Rakanma One Half
by Compucles
Summary: In this AU, Genma took Ranma to Jusenkyo at age 10 shortly after the Cat Fist training. Ranma then runs away to live with his mother Nodoka. 6 years later, Nodoka takes a more mature Ranma to meet the Tendos, which results in a "What if?" version of the manga where Ranma and Akane get along and can develop their romance more naturally.
1. Prologue: Sins of the Father

**Rakanma ½**

**Disclaimer:** Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, a huge fan of the "Belligerent Sexual Tension" trope. Therefore, I am clearly not Rumiko Takahashi.

**Formatting Notes:** Double quotes indicate spoken dialogue, while single quotes indicate thoughts. Italics indicate flashbacks. I'm not very familiar with Japanese honorifics, so I won't be using them except in the cases of Ranma's and Ukyo's childhood nicknames for each other and of course the name of Ukyo's restaurant. I will also be using English translations for most terms except for the technique names that are left untranslated in the animé. As for the Amazon names, the naming theme can't be a coincidence (as with the Musk naming theme). I feel that the Chinese Amazons purposely name their children after the English words for hygiene products and then write the names as the closest Chinese equivalent. Therefore, they will have the same names even when speaking to each other in Chinese in the context of the story. As for gender pronouns when referring to Ranma, the narration will refer to Ranma by his current form, while the other characters (except the Kuno siblings) will think of him as male and speak of him as male, unless they have some reason to hide his curse at a point when he's female.

**Prologue: Sins of the Father**

10 year old Ranma Saotome was very nervous as he followed his father, Genma Saotome, to the guide's hut in the Chinese valley of Jusenkyo. After the horrific experience of the Cat Fist training the month before, he was beginning to wonder if his father really cared for him. Even though his father had missed the warning on the next page of the training manual, he had been shocked at what his father had been willing to do to him for the sake of a martial arts technique. He was getting the idea that this "legendary training ground" was another bad idea.

As far back as he could remember, he and his father had been constantly traveling as they trained in martial arts. It wasn't all bad, as he did love martial arts, and his father was admittedly an excellent martial artist and a good enough teacher to develop his natural talent to the point where he was already superior to many of the masters with whom he had trained. However, he was beginning to realize the price he had paid to reach that level. He hadn't thought about it much before, but the Cat Fist training had opened his eyes. Surely, martial arts training didn't require having your food stolen by a sensei who was already overweight, forcing you to go to bed hungry, did it? There were also several of his father's training methods that were a lot more dangerous than he thought they really needed to be. It also didn't help that their constant traveling had left him without a home and with very few chances to make friends.

As they approached the hut, an overweight Chinese man in some kind of uniform came out and greeted them in broken Japanese, apparently able to recognize the nationality of his approaching guests. "Greetings, honored guests. Welcome to Legendary Training Ground of Jusenkyo. Please, sign visitors' log and I tell you about springs." After they signed in, he continued. "You very strange ones, no? Not many people come to Jusenkyo these days. It very dangerous. There over 100 cursed spring here, each with its own tragic legend."

Genma grunted. "A martial artist must be prepared to give his life for the Art. Come, Ranma." He jumped on top of one of the many bamboo poles sticking out of the springs of water. However, warning bells had started going off in Ranma's head. 'Did he say 'cursed?'' As he stood there in indecision, Genma shouted, "What's keepin' you, boy? Are you afraid of a little water? Stop acting like a girl." His favorite insult to his son was enough to get Ranma to join him on another bamboo pole. "Don't call me that, Pop!" Genma once again winced at the reminder that his son had taken to calling him "Pop" instead of "Daddy" after the Cat Fist training the month before.

The Jusenkyo Guide tried in desperation to warn them. "Sirs, what you doing? I not finished with tale of tragic legend." However, the two fighters had stopped listening to him. After a few blows, Ranma succeeded in knocking his father into one of the springs. However, what emerged from the spring was not a middle-aged, overweight, bald man but a panda still wearing Genma's gi and glasses. Ranma was stunned as the guide explained, "Ah, too bad, you fall in Spring of Drowned Panda. There a very tragic legend of a panda who drown there two thousand year ago. Now, whoever fall in spring take body of panda."

As the idea of having a panda for a father took hold, Ranma stammered, "W-wait a m-minute. You never said anything about…" In his distracted state, he didn't notice that his father-turned-panda wanted to continue the fight. A huge paw hit Ranma and sent him flying into one of the other springs. In the water of the spring, he felt some kind of force take hold of his body. He swam for the surface and breached the top of the water. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his body, afraid of what he would see. He let out a sigh of relief, as he was still human. The guide was saying something, probably about the spring he had fallen in, but he couldn't make it out with the water currently in his ears.

As he climbed out and made his way back to the hut, he did notice a few differences. His pigtail had landed on his shoulder and revealed that his hair color had shifted to a bright red. His voice was a little higher. He was also a few centimeters shorter, something he wouldn't have even noticed without his background in martial arts. If that was all the cursed spring had done to him, then for once he had gotten off lucky.

Back in the hut, the guide served tea and began explaining more about the curses. He told them that the curse was not permanent but neither was it temporary. Cold water would activate the curse, while hot water would restore their natural forms. In demonstration, he poured some hot water from the kettle over the panda to restore the familiar human form of Genma Saotome.

At first, Ranma couldn't understand the sorrowful look in his once again human father's eyes as he looked at what had become of his son, like his curse was somehow even worse than turning into a panda. The guide was about to pour hot water on him as well when Ranma decided he first needed to take care of a certain problem. "Wait just a minute. I'll be right back, but I need to go pee." He rushed out the door, while Genma watched in confusion. The guide said, "I think maybe he not realize yet. Not as easy to tell at that age. Well, he know now." The guide had no sooner finished speaking these words when the sound of a huge female scream pierced the morning air.

A couple of minutes later, an enraged female Ranma reentered the hut, her eyes full of tears for the first time since they had left on their trip four years ago. She grabbed a chair and began smashing it over Genma's head. "YOU IDIOT! You've turned me into a girl! It don't matter that I can sometimes change back. You've ruined my life! I was prepared to give my life for the Art but not my manhood. This is the last straw! I'm leavin' an' I hope I never see you again. I don't know where I'll go or what I'll do, but anything is better than stayin' with you!" With one last blow, the chair broke into pieces, while Genma dropped to the floor unconscious. Not even bothering to change back, Ranma stripped Genma's pack of the little money they had left, grabbed her own pack, and ran off, never looking back.

As she ran across a cliff overlooking the valley, her grief was so great that she didn't even notice when she accidentally knocked a boy over the edge towards the cursed pools.

* * *

Two weeks later, Ranma was starting to get worried, wondering if he should've stayed with his father after all. He was lost in the Chinese wilderness and had long since run out of food from his pack, forcing him to survive on whatever he could scavenge. The only piece of good news was that he had located a hot spring the night before, allowing him to change back into a boy for the first time since the incident. He had so far managed to avoid any cold water today, but he wasn't sure how long that would last.

His luck was still with him when he noticed a pile of fruit on the ground. Too hungry to realize or care that it must belong to someone, he sat down and began to eat.

He had almost finished off the entire pile when he heard angry shouts in a language he didn't understand. A boy and a girl about his own age were running towards him with angry looks on their faces. The boy had long black hair; was wearing a long, flowing white robe; had a pair of glasses perched on his forehead; and was carrying an armful of the same kinds of fruit as had been in the pile. The girl had long indigo hair, was wearing some kind of Chinese style blouse and pants, and was carrying a pair of weapons that resembled an oversized pair of maracas.

The boy dropped the fruit he was carrying, pulled out a pair of knives from the sleeve of his robes, and attempted to throw them. His aim, however, was terrible, and they landed well short of the intended target. Ranma then stared in disbelief as the boy attempted to charge him but instead ran into the trunk of a nearby tree, knocking himself out. The girl shook her head at the incompetence of her companion and charged at Ranma herself. She was an excellent fighter for her age but still no match for the boy who had been trained by the abusive methods of Genma Saotome. Before long, the girl had been disarmed and was on her back looking up in shock at him.

This exertion had been too much for the weakened Ranma, though, and he collapsed to the ground. However, he was still conscious, so he desperately tried to explain why he had done what he had done.

When Shampoo had escorted Mousse back to their fruit pile and discovered the young thief, she had assumed that she could easily defeat him. After all, he was only a single lowly male just as young as she was, while she was the best fighter of her age group and had aspirations of one day becoming the village champion.

Of course, stupid Mousse was no help as usual and had actually taken himself out of the fight. She didn't want him getting in the way, anyway. However, to her great surprise, she had been completely outmatched, unable to even touch the thief. Lying on the ground looking up in fear at the mere boy who had so easily defeated and humiliated her, she thanked the gods when her opponent collapsed to the ground. If she killed him now, there would be no witnesses to what had occurred, and she would be in the clear.

As young as she was, she really didn't want to kill anybody, though. When she heard the boy softly speaking in what she recognized was Japanese, she decided to give him a chance. She didn't yet know the language, but Mousse was partially fluent enough to at least understand the gist of what he was saying. She would need to use him to translate. She hoped the boy wouldn't reveal the true victor of their fight, but it was something she could live with. If she were forced to one day marry this outsider boy, and least he was good looking and a strong martial artist.

She was in luck as the boy didn't mention the fight but explained how he was lost, hungry, and all alone. The two amazon youths took pity on him and carried him and his pack back to their village. Shampoo took him to the woman she respected most, her great-grandmother Elder Cologne, who among other qualifications spoke fluent Japanese.

Ranma told Cologne his life story and explained about his curse, although he asked for and received a promise from her that she wouldn't tell anyone about his curse unless absolutely necessary. Cologne gave Ranma a brief explanation of their village and explained that as a society with a strong emphasis on family and children, they could never turn their backs on him. She arranged passage for him back to his original home of Tokyo, Japan (Ranma couldn't remember any more than that) through the Chinese Embassy, whereupon the Japanese authorities would be able to take care of him from there.

For the next few days, Shampoo nursed him back to health and had a few conversations with him through her great-grandmother. Ranma greatly intrigued her, and it wasn't long before she made up her mind. The night before his departure, she snuck into his room and kissed him on his lips while he was sleeping. Once he was gone, she would tell her great-grandmother the full truth and promise that she would one day track him down.

* * *

Once Ranma arrived back in Japan, he was escorted to the police station in the Minato Ward of Tokyo. One of the desk officers on duty looked through the case files that had been prepared on both Ranma and Genma Saotome. He was about to call Child Services to take the young boy when he noticed something in Genma's file. He was still married to a living woman named Nodoka Saotome. As Ranma himself had known nothing of his mother and had assumed she was dead, this Nodoka was probably just a step-mother who Ranma had never known. Still, as long as she was capable of caring for a child (not an easy assumption for any woman who had married Genma Saotome after what he had read about the man), Child Services may not be needed after all.

Just in case, the desk officer then accessed the birth record of Ranma Saotome and was surprised to discover that Nodoka Saotome actually was the boy's biological mother. He did a quick check to make sure this was the same Nodoka Saotome who was still married to Genma and found that she was. Even better, she still lived right here in Tokyo, in the Nerima Ward. As long as she was judged fit, Ranma could just go home with his own mother. The poor boy couldn't have asked for anything better, although his opinion of Genma Saotome dropped even lower upon the realization that he had purposefully kept this information from his own son. He quickly authorized a background check on Nodoka Saotome and made his call to Child Services to explain the case and what he had learned. When he was done with that call, he looked up another number and made another call…

* * *

Nodoka Saotome was doing some housework when she received a phone call that would change her life.

"Hello, is this Nodoka Saotome, the wife of Genma Saotome and the mother of Ranma Saotome?"

"Yes, it is," Nodoka responded curiously.

"This is Officer Suzuki of the Minato Police Department. If you're currently standing up, I suggest you sit down."

This was something nobody ever wanted to hear from a police officer after referencing the names of her family members. Nodoka took a seat, panic rising in her chest. "Okay, I'm sitting."

The officer continued, "Mrs. Saotome, when was the last time you saw your husband and son?"

Now fearing the worse, Nodoka gulped and answered, "My husband took my son on an extended martial arts training trip about four years ago. He sends me letters about their travels every now and then. Did something happen to them? Please tell me they're alright."

Officer Suzuki silently cursed to himself at how poorly he had handled the beginning of this conversation. "Your son is safe, but I'm afraid a warrant has been issued for the arrest of your husband on the charges of child abuse and numerous petty thefts."

Nodoka's voice caught in her throat. The thievery didn't surprise her, as she had long known Genma to be somewhat less than honest when it came to money and food, but the news that he had abused Ranma, their only child, came as a shocking blow. She had thought that it would be alright to let them go when Genma had signed that contract, but she now realized she had made a horrible mistake in letting him take her son away from her as tears began to form in her eyes.

After a few seconds, she controlled herself enough to speak, "Where is Genma now?"

The officer replied, "We don't know. Ranma ran away from him in China a few weeks ago and hasn't seen him since. Ranma luckily found some sympathetic people who arranged for him to come home to Japan. He's currently here at the station if you would like to see him."

"There is nothing else I would rather do more right now," said Nodoka. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

* * *

Nodoka took the subway to the Minato Ward and soon arrived at the police station. She gave her name to the officer at the front desk and was told to take a seat. A minute later, an officer approached her and introduced himself as the officer to whom she had spoken on the phone. He explained that before she could see Ranma, she needed to agree to a DNA test (Ranma's DNA having already been taken from a cup of tea he had been given to drink) to prove their relation, as she hadn't seen her son in four years, while Ranma had no memories of her and didn't even know she was alive (Nodoka winced at this news). She agreed, and a few hours later she was finally taken to see her son.

When Ranma had arrived at the police station, he had been taken to a private room and given clean clothes and several things to eat and drink, although he had been careful to only ask for hot tea as his beverage of choice. Before long, detectives had arrived and politely questioned him for details of his life with his father. He held back everything about Jusenkyo and their curses, instead blaming the Cat Fist training as the event that had caused him to run away.

Afterwards, he had become bored just waiting around, wondering why they were just leaving him here. He wondered what they would do with him now that he no longer had his father around. Every once in a while, one of the officers would come in to talk with him, but he couldn't understand why he was still here.

Eventually, one of the officers returned, but this time he was escorting a woman with auburn hair in a kimono who was carrying a cloth-wrapped bundle. When she saw him, she began to weep. Ranma supposed that this woman had been asked to take care of him until they found a permanent place for him, but he couldn't understand why she would get so emotional just at the sight of him. Sure, he had expected that his situation would get him a lot of pity (although he really didn't want a whole lot of it), but this was way over the top. Seeing his confusion, the officer stepped forward and explained, "Ranma, this is Nodoka Saotome, your mother." Ranma's jaw dropped. Quietly, he asked, "I have a mother?" "Yes, and she's here to take you home with her," the officer announced with a smile. For the second time in his memory, Ranma began to cry. "Mom!" Mother and son ran at each other and embraced each other fondly.

* * *

Nodoka's background check came back clean, and after a few visits the social workers concluded that Nodoka was a fit mother, giving her full custody of Ranma. Ranma told his mother everything, including about Jusenkyo and his curse. When he first demonstrated it, Nodoka had been shocked and began thinking about the contract with her husband. However, it didn't long for her to conclude that she couldn't count such a thing against him, and she had already noticed that he had turned out better than she had expected after what he had been through. Besides, it was now her job to finish raising him to be a "man among men."

* * *

A couple of months later, Genma managed to track Ranma down and showed up at their door one day. Ranma hid in his room, while Genma told his wife to "fetch that ungrateful boy who ran out on [him]." Genma never saw it coming. He was soon unconscious on the ground with a long bruise across his chest. Ranma saw this from his window and came down to learn that the katana his mother carried was actually a reverse-blade sword handed down from her great-grandfather.

The police showed up and arrested Genma. Eventually, his case went to trial, and Ranma gathered the courage to testify against him, although he once again avoided any mention of Jusenkyo, and Genma wisely avoided the subject as well. The most d***ing piece of evidence was a recording of a demonstration of Ranma in the Cat Fist in a controlled environment that the police had set up that Ranma had agreed to undertake. By this point, Ranma had grown close enough to his mother for her to be able to safely bring him out of it. Genma was sentenced to two years in prison, during which time Nodoka divorced him and once again became Nodoka Himura.

Over time, Nodoka did her best to raise Ranma on her own, taking it upon herself to improve Ranma's social skills and free him of some of Genma's attitudes that had taken hold over the years. Although she too wanted nothing more than to see Ranma grow up to be a "man among men," and an outside observer would certainly question some of her thoughts on manliness, she did teach him that women are not weak but should still be shown proper respect, and it's okay for a man to express his feelings and even cry from time to time.

She could tell, though, that Ranma's first love was still martial arts and that he was disappointed that he had nobody anywhere near his level with whom to train. Once Genma was released from prison, she and Ranma arranged a compromise with him and the police. On the weekends, Genma would be allowed to visit and train Ranma within her supervision and while wearing an ankle bracelet. Any other time, his restraining order would remain in effect.

* * *

School proved to be an interesting challenge. Genma had at least arranged for Ranma to attend school whenever they stayed in the same place for a few months, which was enough for him to pass the test to allow him to be in the right grade for his age group. However, as young as Ranma still was and with how vicious Nodoka knew other kids could be, she knew school would be miserable for him once his curse was revealed. To solve this problem, Nodoka arranged for Ranma to attend elementary school in another part of town and registered him as a girl named Ranko Saotome with the help of some sympathetic members of the school board, who also explained to the teachers why they could no longer bring hot drinks to work. With this precaution, it would be nearly impossible for "Ranko" to encounter hot water at school, although she always had a water bottle in her school bag just in case. Ranma wasn't happy about pretending to be a girl at school, but he knew the alternative was even worse.

"Ranko" was definitely a loner at school. At their age, the boys would mostly ignore the girls, and Ranko herself felt uncomfortable befriending any of the girls. Besides, she felt she couldn't afford to get too close to anyone with her curse.

* * *

When Ranma was 12 and 6th grade came along, he found that things had changed in school for Ranko. By this point, his girl form had already developed a significant bust and was also well on its way to otherwise developing a very feminine figure, to the jealousy of most of the other girls in her grade. Of course, by this time, most of the boys her age had discovered girls, and the combination of her mature figure for her age with her striking red hair and naturally attractive face led to the consensus that she was the prettiest girl in the school. Ranko would silently curse Jusenkyo for giving her such a body whenever one of the boys would attempt to come on to her. No amount of time in front of the bathroom mirror at home was worth this. Of course, these attempts would always end in failure where the boy was concerned. If it weren't for the fact that Ranko mostly avoided socializing with everybody, rumors would've certainly spread that Ranko was a lesbian.

Ranko's developing figure also led to other changes in Ranma's life. For one thing, she was now forced to wear bras to school. It also took a little getting used to adjusting how he walked and ran between his two forms now that his female form had wider hips. As an extension to that, he now had to practice his martial arts in both forms to make sure he could move correctly both ways. Luckily, having his father back as a sparring partner later that year kept him from falling too out of practice.

* * *

The biggest event of the school year was the school play, which turned out to be "Romeo and Juliet." Somehow, the 6th grade boys basically forced Ranko into the role of Juliet, claiming that the role should naturally go to the prettiest girl in school. Eventually, Ranko agreed to take on the part, aware that they had no way of knowing that in her heart she really wanted to play Romeo as a guy.

For this reason, he felt quite a bit of sympathy for the one who would actually be playing the role of Romeo. Like with Ranko, Romeo's role had been practically forced upon this classmate, who was actually a girl herself, although unlike Ranko's situation at least everyone was aware that she was actually a girl playing the role of a boy. She had short dark blue hair and was known as the best athlete and martial artist in school, rumored to even be good enough to defeat adult black belts. Ranko highly doubted this city girl could beat her after all she had been through even with being out of practice for the last two and a half years, but it was still very impressive.

Ranko had noticed this girl a few times before, but once rehearsals began, she got to know her a lot better. Even though there would be no actual kissing (Ranko would've never accepted the role if there was), there was still a lot of one-on-one rehearsal time required between the two leads. Ranko discovered that she was the most spirited girl she had ever met, and her smile could light up a room. Also, they both shared a true love of the Art, although Ranko still hadn't told anyone at school that she was a martial artist. By the time the play came around, Ranko had developed a huge crush on this girl, although it hurt that nothing could ever come of it due to her alias. The girl was also quite friendly and made several attempts to befriend Ranko, such as asking whether they could rehearse together at one of their houses. Ranko was highly tempted to accept these offers of friendship but forced herself to decline. If she allowed herself to become friends with the girl, it would hurt too much when she eventually learned of her curse and rejected her. Eventually, the play came and went as did the end of the school year. As time passed, Ranma forgot the name of this girl, but no one ever completely forgets about his/her first love.

* * *

Things changed as Ranma prepared to start junior high. He and his mother agreed that it would no longer work for him to attend school as a girl. He was now old enough to handle what the other kids thought of his curse, and it would be a lot better than having ever increasingly hormonal boys hitting on his girl form with its ever increasingly attractive figure. In fact, he had decided to just announce and demonstrate his curse on the first day to get it out of the way. He also felt that he needed to be himself in school after nearly three years of pretending to be a girl. Most importantly, junior high students were expected to change clothes and shower for gym class, something he could never accept doing with the girls even if nobody ever found out.

He therefore transferred over to the junior high nearest his house, with his school records secretly having the gender corrected thanks once again to some helpful people in high places. Throughout junior high, although it was a relief to be able to socialize normally with the other boys, many of whom were very respectable about his curse, he still mostly kept to himself, only allowing himself to be friends with his mother. He just knew that nobody else could truly accept him with his curse.

* * *

Of course, Nodoka couldn't help but worry about her son's lack of friends. It just wasn't right for him to go through life friendless and alone. She had tried to convince him that if he put some effort into it, he could find some true friends who would accept his curse, but he wasn't willing to listen.

Finally, Nodoka made a decision in the best interests of her son. He would be starting high school soon, and she couldn't let him drift like he had through junior high. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so it was time to take him to fulfill an old agreement her ex-husband had made with his best friend, Soun Tendo. Although it bugged her to be doing anything that idiot panda had arranged, she had no quarrel with Mr. Tendo and knew that he still expected the agreement to be fulfilled someday.

Nodoka made the arrangements for Ranma to be transferred to the same high school the Tendo daughters attended, Furinkan High School. The day before the school term was set to begin, Nodoka made the announcement to Ranma at breakfast. "Ranma, your father won't be coming over to train with you today. Instead, the two of us are going on a special trip. Your father has an old friend and former training partner named Soun Tendo." At the look on Ranma's face, Nodoka amended, "Don't worry. He's an honorable man unlike your father. Anyway, his family actually practices the sister branch to the Saotome Style in the School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, and he owns a dojo here in Nerima. How would you like to go visit?" Ranma enthusiastically agreed, although Nodoka felt guilty that he wouldn't be very happy about it once he was told the true purpose of their "visit."

The day before, she had called Mr. Tendo to inform him that she had something important to discuss with him concerning his old friend Genma Saotome and to make sure his entire family was home today. However, she hadn't left her name nor provided any other details. She would privately discuss the situation with Soun once they arrived but felt it would be better for it to be a surprise for both Ranma and the Tendo daughters. Hopefully, once they spent some time together first, things would go over more smoothly once the bombshell was dropped.

A little while later, Ranma and his mother entered a cab that would take them to the Tendo compound and another turning point in Ranma's life…

* * *

**Author's Notes:** My goal in writing this story is to create a believable alternate universe following the manga arcs where Ranma's and Akane's relationship is allowed to develop as naturally as possible. In the manga, I see these as the major reasons why Ranma and Akane can't get along:

1. They got off on the wrong foot the day they met.

2. The extra fiancées and other suitors keep getting in the way.

3. They're afraid to get too close out of fear of their fathers pushing them into marriage, plus the whole idea of the arranged engagement in the first place.

4. Ranma keeps sticking his foot in his mouth, while Akane is too quick to jump to conclusions and lose her temper.

5. Due to the way he was raised, Ranma has trouble showing his emotions, he has trouble respecting Akane as a martial artist, and he has trouble understanding how his insults hurt her.

Now, it just wouldn't be Ranma ½ without #1, #2, or the arranged engagement (although #1 will occur quite differently this time). However, if I could get Genma mostly out of the way to eliminate #5 and help with #3, which would then lead to drastically reducing #4, it could work. This is what I came up with to go about doing so.

Anyway, I probably won't update this one very often, and it could take years to finish, but I eventually want to go through the whole manga, although I'll be skipping some minor arcs that I don't like or no longer make sense in this AU. For example, you may have noticed that Ranma didn't encounter the Dragon's Whisker this time, so that entire arc will be skipped.

Before anyone asks, yes, this Ranma isn't as good at martial arts as the one at the beginning of the actual manga due to his disrupted training. However, he's still more than a match for Kuno, so it won't matter until Ryoga shows up (and yes, I know I'm stretching it with how I adjusted the timeline concerning Ryoga, but there was no other way to get his story to work within the bounds of this AU). Eventually, Ranma will have all the training he needs to catch up to where he was in the manga.

Yes, I admit that I stole the Rurouni Kenshin connection from "Ranma, the Second Time Around." However, it just makes too much sense not to use despite the fact that Nodoka is shown not really knowing how to handle her sword in the manga. As that author says, the red hair has to come from somewhere.

Okay, the police department probably doesn't have all that information available at their fingertips, but it would've slowed down the pace of the story too much to be any more realistic about it.


	2. Ch 1: Friend or Fiancée?

**Chapter 1: Friend or Fiancée?**

**Note:** Akane may seem somewhat OOC here with her willingness to be friends with a boy, but keep in mind that Ranma is arriving a little early in this AU. This is the day before high school starts for Ranma and Akane and therefore the day before Kuno makes his dumb speech that creates the Hentai Horde.

* * *

Ranma was nervous as the cab pulled up to the gate, although it would've been nothing compared to his nerves if he had known the true purpose of the trip. His mother told him to wait there while she talked to Mr. Tendo before she got out and headed to the front door.

Not long after Nodoka rang the bell, the door was answered by a middle-aged man with long, dark hair and a mustache. "Yes, can I help you?" asked the voice of Soun Tendo.

"Yes," replied Nodoka. "I called you yesterday about stopping by to discuss something concerning Genma Saotome."

Soun sighed. "I assure you I haven't seen my old friend Saotome in years. Perhaps if you were to look up his wife, she might be able to-"

Nodoka smiled as she cut him off. "I guess you don't recognize me. It's been a long time, Soun."

Soun stared blankly for a few seconds until his eyes lit up in recognition. "Nodoka, is that you? I haven't seen you since my wife's funeral ten years ago. Please, come in."

"I'm sorry, not just yet," declined Nodoka. "I need to discuss my reason for coming first. I've brought my son Ranma to fulfill the old agreement you have with Genma about joining the schools, but I don't want our children to know about it just yet. I'd like them to spend the day together first before we make any decisions. I remember you have some trouble keeping your mouth shut, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let me do the talking."

Soun looked like he had just won the lottery. "Finally, the day we longed dreamed of has arrived." He started weeping in happiness. Nodoka shook her head as she went back to the cab to fetch her son and pay the driver.

* * *

After hugging a surprised Ranma, Soun led his guests into the tea room. From the kitchen, a feminine voice called, "Father, who was that? Do we have guests?"

"Yes, Kasumi dear," replied Soun. "Could you find your sisters and join us for tea?"

"Yes, father," answered Kasumi. Before long, three teenage girls joined them in the tea room, one of them bringing the tea set.

Soun made the introductions. "These are my daughters: Kasumi, age 19; Nabiki, age 16, almost 17; and Akane, age 15, almost 16." As he spoke, he pointed first to the girl with a long brown ponytail who had brought the tea, then to a girl with unbound neck-length brown hair, and finally to a girl with long dark blue hair held loosely by a ribbon. "Girls, this is Nodoka Saotome, the wife of an old friend of mine, Genma Saotome, and this is her son, Ranma."

Nodoka cleared her throat. "Actually, Soun, it's Nodoka Himura, now that I've parted ways with my foolish ex-husband."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that," replied Soun with sympathy. "I know how hard it is to go on as a single parent. I suppose that explains why Genma isn't here with you. If you see him, please tell him that I miss him and would appreciate it if he stopped by."

"Perhaps eventually," said Nodoka cautiously, "but I think it's best if he stayed away for a while." Nodoka looked at Soun's daughters. "Anyway, girls, I don't know if your father has ever told you, but he and Ranma's father were once training partners and now head the two sister branches of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts. I brought Ranma here to meet your family and learn about the Tendo branch of the school."

"So this is why you insisted we stay home today, Daddy?" asked Nabiki. "I'd rather be out shopping before going back to school tomorrow."

Akane looked at the shy young man nervously gripping his mother's arm. This boy was a martial artist like her? He sure didn't look like it. Still, she'd do her best to make him feel welcome. "Nabiki!" scolded Akane. "A guest is a guest." She stood up, walked over to Ranma, and held out her hand. "I'm Akane. You want to be friends?" She flashed him a smile.

At the smile on her face, Ranma's internal defenses almost melted away. There was something familiar about her smile, and it made him feel warm inside for some reason. Still, he resisted, as he spoke up for the first time since entering the house. "I wish you hadn't asked that. It's nothing personal, but it's for the best if you don't become friends with me." As he spoke, Akane could see the pain in his eyes. She wondered what could make a person feel this way.

Nodoka sighed. "Please, Ranma, give her a chance. You don't have to become friends, but I'd like you to spend some time with these girls today. You can't go through life always afraid to meet new people."

Ranma nodded. "I guess I can do that, Mom." He took Akane's hand and allowed her to lift him to his feet. He then looked at the training gi she was wearing. "So it looks like you're into martial arts," he said, finally smiling.

"Of course," confirmed Akane. "Despite being the youngest, I'm the heir to our branch of the school and our dojo."

"You have your own dojo?" asked Ranma, now excited.

"Yeah," answered Akane. "I was practicing there when you arrived. Come out back with me, and I'll show you." She led the now less nervous young man from the room.

* * *

After giving a quick tour around the dojo, Akane was ready to see just how good Ranma was. "You practice kempo, right?"

"A little," answered Ranma deceptively as he started to grin.

"Then let's have a little match," suggested Akane. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you."

When they were both ready, Akane charged in with a strong punch only for Ranma to dodge by leaning to the side. Akane kept attacking, but Ranma kept dodging with ease, not even needing to block. Akane started to get frustrated and more sloppy as a result. "Why am I missing him? Is he reading my moves?"

Sensing that things were starting to get out of hand, Ranma decided he had seen enough of her skill and needed to start fighting back. Akane badly overreached with her next blow, allowing Ranma to send her stumbling back with a quick palm strike to her lower ribs. Akane came back with a high kick, only for Ranma to block with one of his forearms and sweep Akane's remaining leg out from under her. He grinned at Akane's shocked face as he playfully poked her in the forehead to signify the end of the match. They both started laughing.

"Wow, I can't believe how good you are!" exclaimed Akane. "I thought I was the best martial artist in Nerima, but you're on a whole different level."

Ranma dropped his shoulders and looked down. "I'd be even better if I could still train more often with my pop, but really, it's better this way. You don't want to know about some of the things Pop made me go through to become as good as I am."

Akane put her hand on his shoulder in sympathy. "Is that why your parents are divorced and you live with your mom."

Ranma sighed. "Yeah, but I really don't want to talk about it, so please don't ask."

"Okay," Akane agreed. "Let's go back inside. I bet Kasumi will have a snack waiting for us."

* * *

Akane was right, as both teens found cookies and milk awaiting them when they reentered the house. They each took their share and sat at the now empty tea room table to eat, and Kasumi soon joined them.

"So how did it go in the dojo?" asked Kasumi politely.

"Ranma was amazing!" replied Akane excitedly. "I couldn't even touch him." She turned to face Ranma. "I hope you can come visit every once in a while. I haven't had a real sparring partner since Dad stopped training me."

"Your dad stopped training you?" asked Ranma is disbelief. This was a disappointing turn of events, although it did explain some flaws he'd noticed in Akane's training. He had hoped that he could learn some things from Mr. Tendo while he was here. His own father may be a greedy, abusive idiot, but at least he was still around to train with.

Kasumi explained, "Yes, Father took it rather hard when we lost our mother about ten years ago. He shut himself off in several ways, and it wasn't long before he stopped teaching, including us. Akane has had to practice on her own for several years now."

"Akane, I could tell you were good, but it's unbelievable how far you've come without an instructor," praised Ranma. Akane beamed at the compliment. "However," Ranma continued, "your lack of instruction has caused some problems. Your forms are pretty sloppy, and your defense definitely needs work. You can't just power your way through a fight with a strong opponent. You've also failed to make many of the needed adjustments as you've grown taller and your body has, um, developed." Ranma blushed slightly as he said this, remembering how he had needed to make those adjustments himself, or herself to be more accurate. "Some of this shouldn't be too hard to fix. I can work on it with you later." Akane was disappointed as Ranma described her flaws but recovered when Ranma agreed to help.

By now, they had finished their snacks. "I think it's time for the two of you to take a bath after all the exercise you got out in the dojo," suggested Kasumi. At the shocked looks on her companions' faces, Kasumi amended her statement. "Not together, of course. Ranma, you're our guest, so you should go first. I'll get you some bathing supplies and show you where the bathroom is. I've already got the bathtub ready."

A few minutes later, Kasumi returned and rejoined her youngest sister at the table. "So what do you think of Ranma?" she asked.

Akane answered carefully, "Well, so far, he seems pretty nice. It's great that he can help me with my martial arts. It's strange, though, how someone who's so confident when it comes to the Art is otherwise so shy and lonely. At least it means he's probably not a pervert like most boys my age seem to be."

"Maybe you should see if you can get him to ask you out. He is really cute." Kasumi giggled at her suggestion."

"Kasumi!," complained Akane as she blushed. "I barely know him. I'm not ready for that."

"Relax, Akane." Kasumi replied. "Nobody is saying you have to marry him." (At this point, both Nodoka and Soun sneezed as they talked out in the yard.) "Just get to know him over a private dinner or something."

"Well, maybe if he decided to come back and visit every once in a while," Akane conceded. "You're right about him being cute."

* * *

After a while, Akane decided that Ranma was probably done with his bath by now and went to take her own. By routine, she stripped in the changing room but then noticed that the "occupied" sign was still on the door. She was about to redress and wait for Ranma to finish when she heard an unfamiliar soprano voice that certainly couldn't belong to Ranma coming from the bathroom.

"I really hope nobody finds out about this, especially not her. Well, I just need to make it through the day, and then it might not matter anymore." This was followed by a sad sigh. "Why did Jusenkyo have to make my boobs so big? They draw too much attention and get in the way."

Akane was puzzled. Why was there some strange girl in their bathroom complaining about her plastic surgeon doing too good a job on her breast implants? "What's going on? Who's in there?" she called out. The room immediately went silent. Something strange was going on, and she was going to get some answers. "Whoever you are, I'm coming in." She heard hurried footsteps as she opened the door and took a step inside.

To her surprise, the girl she heard was nowhere to be found as she instead saw Ranma facing the bathtub with one leg inside. He was at an angle that provided her a clear look at his male anatomy. He turned his head towards her, and they both stared at each other like deer caught in headlights. A few seconds later, the sight of Ranma's manhood extending out reminded Akane that she was giving Ranma just as much of a show as he was to her.

She quietly stepped back into the changing room and closed the door. She put on the top of her gi as an impromptu bathrobe and sat against the wall blushing and breathing heavily as she recalled what she had seen. She considered screaming but remembered that the sign had been out and that she had been the one to walk in on him. But who the h*** was that girl she had heard, and where did she go? Had Ranma managed to sneak a girlfriend into the house and somehow managed to hide her before she came in?

A few minutes later, she heard a knock coming from the inside of the bathroom followed by Ranma's voice calling out. "Akane, are you there? Can I come out and talk? I'm in a towel now, and I'll explain everything." Akane stood up and opened the door slightly. Seeing that Ranma was indeed wrapped appropriately in a towel, she opened the door the rest of the way. "It'll be easier to explain if you come in here with me." Cautiously, Akane stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Ranma, who was that girl I heard, and how did she just disappear?" asked Akane.

Ranma reached back with one hand and nervously fiddled with his pigtail. "The thing is I have a weird Chinese curse that sometimes turns me into a girl. That was actually me you heard."

Akane narrowed her eyes in anger. "Ranmaaa! This isn't funny, you pervert! I want to know why you had a strange girl with you in our bathroom and what happened to her!"

Ranma ignored her and started filling the rinse tub with cold water from the sink. Akane was about to deck him when he poured the water over himself. Akane stood there in shock as Ranma suddenly became much shorter and much more petite, his hair color changing from black to red, and his facial features rearranged into that of an attractive young woman, although her deep blue eyes remained exactly as they were. If there was any doubt as to the gender of this transformed state, it was squashed by the fact that Ranma had only wrapped the towel around his waist, meaning that a very generous pair of assets were now exposed on her chest. In the same soprano voice she had heard earlier, Ranma now said, "Sorry 'bout this."

"Ranma, is that really you?" Akane managed to squeak out.

"Yes, it's still me," confirmed Ranma. "When I was ten years old, my pop foolishly took me to the Cursed Training Ground of Jusenkyo in China. Jusenkyo consists of several dozen pools of water, each with its own curse. If you fall into one of those pools, you are cursed to take on the form of whatever first drowned in the pool whenever you are hit with cold water, while hot water changes you back to normal. I fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl, while Pop fell into the Spring of Drowned Panda. Pop had done some rotten things to me before on our four year training journey, but that incident convinced me that I had to get away from him and go home to my mother."

As Ranma finished, she thought about how her stupid curse was once again ruining her life. This was exactly what she didn't want to have happen, and now she was going to lose any chance she had of being Akane's friend. Looking down silently, she waited for the rejection.

She was surprised as Akane instead stepped forward and embraced her. "Ranma, that's terrible," she said sympathetically. "I can't imagine how tough this is for you."

Nervously, Ranma replied, "You're really okay with this? Are you still willing to be friends with a freak like me?"

Akane answered, "Oh Ranma, is this why you were so reluctant to become friends? This isn't your fault, and you're not a freak. It will take some getting used to, but I don't turn away my friends when they need me." She released the now trembling girl she had been holding. "Let's start over. Hi, I'm Akane. Want to be friends?"

Ranma sobbed as she answered, "Yes, I want to be your friend, Akane. Thank you. I was just so worried that you would reject me when you found out about this." She gestured to her still half-naked female form.

"Ranma," replied Akane solemnly, "I promise that I will never reject you because of your curse."

Once Ranma was able to regain her composure, Akane glanced at her still exposed chest and smirked. "You were right about Jusenkyo giving you big boobs. I know girls who would kill to have natural breasts that big."

"Are you jealous?" asked Ranma as she sat on the rinsing stool and propped up her chest with her hands..

Akane slapped Ranma's face relatively lightly at this remark. "Ranma! You don't ask a girl something like that!"

"I'm sorry," apologized Ranma. "I was just teasing you."

For a moment, Akane looked away, then she turned back while blushing to say, "Okay, I admit it. I'm jealous. She opened the front of her gi to directly compare their breast sizes. "It's just not fair that you're so much better built than I am when you're not even a real girl."

Ranma had quickly turned her head away at Akane's display. "Akane, what do you think you're doing?! Close it back up!"

Akane looked confused but did as she was told. "What's wrong? We're both girls right now, so it doesn't matter, right?"

Ranma sighed as she turned back. "Akane, it doesn't work that way. When I'm like this, I still have the mind of a boy, making me the equivalent of a lesbian."

"Oops, sorry," apologized Akane. "I hadn't thought of that possibility." Suddenly, a new thought occurred to her. "You don't use that body of yours to do stuff like peep at women in the public baths, do you?"

"No, of course not. I'm no pervert," responded Ranma insulted.

"I suppose not," said a relieved Akane, "but you can't tell me you haven't ogled your female form in the mirror while alone in the bathroom," she teased.

Ranma's cheeks went red. She looked down as she confessed, "I'm not a pervert, but I'm still a teenage boy. I may have also done some, um, _exploration_ into the nether regions when I first got the curse after I got over the shock of it. I don't look at myself much anymore, though, as not only has the novelty worn off, but I've gotten so used to the curse that this body hardly turns me on at this point."

"I think we're getting a little too personal now," said Akane. Why don't you change back and dry off, and we can both get dressed and head back downstairs."

* * *

A little while later they were both properly dressed, Akane now in a cute pink dress and white blouse, as they sat back down in the tea room where Nabiki was now watching TV. Nabiki immediately noticed the awkwardness between them. "What's the matter with you two? Did you see each other naked or something?"

"It was an accident," Akane blurted out before she could stop herself.

Nabiki's jaw dropped in surprise. "I was just kidding. You mean you actually did?" Nabiki took the resulting silence as a yes. "So Sis, did you like what you saw?"

"Nabiki!" shouted Akane, although in her mind she answered the question with an emphatic 'Yes.'

"Well, I guess when you're a tomboy who can't cook, you need to flash some skin to get a boyfriend." Nabiki immediately regretted this remark, as she now knew she had stepped over the line as she watched Akane boil over in anger.

Akane screamed and tried to rush forward with the intent of strangling her sister when she was pulled back by Ranma's arms around her waist. "Calm down, Akane. There's nothing wrong with being a tomboy, and it's not a big deal if you can't cook. Remember, you're better at martial arts than she'll ever be, which also means you can always threaten to beat her up if you need to."

At these words, Akane started to calm down, although she thought, 'He doesn't know just how bad my cooking really is or how manipulative Nabiki can be.'

* * *

As the day passed, Ranma did his best to get to know all three Tendo sisters, although he soon gave up on Nabiki who was quite frankly a greedy, manipulative b****. He found Kasumi to be very kind and gentle and of course an excellent cook. Akane was a lot more interesting, though, even with her quick temper, and he found himself already considering her to be a close friend, the first one he had had since Ucchan.

In the afternoon, he worked with Akane on her forms as promised and found that her skill significantly improved with just these corrections. He wondered just how good she would've been if her father hadn't abandoned her training.

Before long, it was time for dinner, and everyone gathered at the table, the four teenagers unaware that this meal would also be the setting for an important announcement.

* * *

As they were eating (Ranma surprising everyone but his mother at how fast he could eat while still maintaining decent table manners), Nodoka called everyone to attention. "Soun and I have something important to discuss with all of you," she began. "First, Ranma, you need to show and explain to everyone about your curse."

Ranma gulped nervously as he saw the confused expressions on the faces of Kasumi, Nabiki, and Mr. Tendo. "Mom, do I have ta? Akane already found out and is okay with it, but I'd rather not tell everyone about it."

"Yes dear, it's important that you tell them now. You'll understand why soon," Nodoka replied.

Ranma once again explained about Jusenkyo and his curse. As expected, the rest of the Tendo family didn't believe him until he splashed some water from his dinner glass in his face, invoking the transformation. Soun and Kasumi offered their sympathies, while Nabiki was shocked speechless. Kasumi wasted no time in getting Ranma a cup of hot water to allow him to change back.

"Well now," Soun commented after the reverse transformation, "your problem isn't so bad. Anyway, it's time to explain the real reason Ranma and his mother are here today. Before any of you were born, my friend Genma Saotome and I agreed that we would one day join our two branches of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts through the marriage of our children. Today is the beginning of the fulfillment of that agreement."

At once, four angry voices began shouting out, all protesting the idea of an arranged marriage between two of them. Eventually, Soun and Nodoka managed to get their children back under control. Nodoka took the floor. "I can understand that you aren't happy about being forced into marriage, but this is a matter of honor between our families. Although my ex-husband has done his best to destroy his honor, Ranma's honor and the honor of the Tendo family are both still at stake. If it eventually turns out that a decent match can't be made, we may consider other options, but tonight an arrangement will be made."

"Well said, Nodoka." agreed Soun. "Ranma, you know my daughters now. Pick whichever one you want, and she will be your fiancée."

At these words, different thoughts went through the minds of the three sisters:

Nabiki thought, 'D***, I've blown my chance. If I had known I could easily get a hunk like him as a fiancé, even if he does turn into a girl, I wouldn't have treated him like he's just one of the brainless jocks from school.'

Akane thoughts followed a different path. 'I know I don't want to be engaged, but it might not be so bad if it's Ranma. I almost hope he does pick me. He won't do it, though. Why would any guy want me when he can have Kasumi?'

As for Kasumi, she thought, "I hope he doesn't pick me. I'm much more interested in Dr. Tofu. Akane is really the one he's best suited for, anyway. I should say so.'

Kasumi was about to speak up when Ranma did instead. "First, let me make it clear that I don't have any intention of marrying anybody right now. However, if I have to make a choice, then I want Akane to be my fiancée." He smiled at his new friend and now new fiancée.

Akane's face showed her surprise as she thought, 'He picked me?! He really wants an angry tomboy like me over a beautiful saint like Kasumi?' She felt a little lighthearted inside that she had been Ranma's choice, but soon she felt her anger start to overtake her again as she remembered that she was now engaged to a boy she had just met and hardly knew.

As Akane's emotions swept through her, Nodoka smiled at her future daughter-in-law. "I thought you would be his choice, Akane. I think you'll be good for each other."

Akane couldn't hold in her anger any longer. She began shouting at the woman who she felt was trying to ruin her life. "Good for each other?! How can this be good for us?! I barely know him, and now you expect me to marry him?! I wish the two of you had never come! We were just fine on our own. Why couldn't you have just stayed away from us?!"

Akane was so intent on voicing her displeasure to Nodoka that she didn't notice the effect her words were having on Ranma. He was no more happy than she was at being forcibly engaged like this, but he still wanted to be friends with Akane, if not eventually more. Yet, here she was wishing that they had never met. Did his friendship really mean so little to her? Did she not mean what she said when she asked to be friends? Akane finally noticed the crushed look on his face when he stood up and quietly left the room with tears starting to form in his eyes.

Soun began bawling about how the schools would never be joined, as Akane realized that she had hurt Ranma somehow with what she had said. She hadn't meant to do that. She turned back to face Nodoka as the older woman began to speak, "Akane dear, could we talk privately? I need to explain some things about Ranma and this engagement."

* * *

Akane led Nodoka up to her room where they sat down next to each other on Akane's bed. "I'm sorry I overreacted, Mrs. Saotome, um I mean Ms. Himura, but I really hate being forced into this. When I get married, I want it be because my husband and I are in love and decided ourselves to do so."

Nodoka's eyes gained a pensive look. "I understand how you feel, Akane. Perhaps if I had courted Genma longer instead of rushing into marriage, I would've been able to recognize his flaws well enough to realize that it wasn't going to end well. I don't regret my marriage to him, as I have Ranma because of it, and we did have several good years together, but it's always a shame when a marriage doesn't last. If things were different, I would've allowed you plenty of time to get to know each other before revealing the family agreement. With luck, the two of you may have even gotten married on your own terms without any knowledge of the agreement."

"Then why didn't you?" asked Akane.

Nodoka sighed. "It all goes back to the abusive treatment Ranma received from his father on their training trip. I don't know if he's told you but getting cursed at Jusenkyo was merely the final straw that convinced Ranma to leave his father. Ranma has been traumatized in several ways, some of which he has yet to realize himself. I've tried to get him to see a therapist, but he's always refused to go."

"One of his biggest problems is his refusal to make friends or get close to anybody except me. His father betrayed his trust, and he's afraid of it ever happening again. He's convinced himself that anybody who might be his friend will abandon him once they find out about his curse, and he's terrified of being hurt like that again."

"With Ranma now starting high school, I couldn't let him continue down this self-destructive path. In bringing him here to fulfill the marriage agreement, my true goal was for you and your sisters to befriend him and start bringing him out of his shell. As part of this engagement, we will be living here with you while the two of you get to know each other and attend school together. By forcing you together like this, he'll be unable to distance himself from your family like he has with everyone else in the past, providing the means for all of you to break through his defenses and become his friends, which will hopefully help him eventually learn to accept others as well."

"Akane, you in particular have already greatly impressed me. I can tell that Ranma has already become closer to you than he has to anyone since he was reunited with me six years ago. He mentioned that you had already discovered his curse when he told the rest of your family at dinner. I imagine the way you accepted him after you found out must have been a big relief for him."

"So, you see, I'm not the one you owe an apology for your earlier outburst. What you said about wishing we had never come hurt Ranma badly. From his point of view, he thought he had finally found a friend and someone who could understand him, only for her to angrily denounce his friendship in front of everyone. He's no more ready to marry than you are, but he's willing to have a fiancée if it means she'll also be his friend."

Akane now felt horrible about what she said after hearing this explanation. "I'm really sorry, Ms. Himura. I had no idea what I said would hurt Ranma like that. I certainly didn't mean to imply I no longer wished to be friends with him. I-I have some trouble with my temper sometimes. I need to find Ranma and apologize to him right away."

"Please, don't be so formal," replied Nodoka. "If everything works out the way I think it will, we're going to family someday. If you don't want to call me 'Mom' out of respect to your own mother, at least call me 'Auntie Nodoka.' As for your temper, I think you'll find that Ranma won't be the only one to grow from your relationship. Like I said before, I think you'll both be good for each other. Now, if I know my son, he'll be up on the roof gazing out at the sky right now. Why don't you go patch things up with him."

Nodoka stood and turned to leave the room, but before she could go, Akane hugged her future mother-in-law from behind. "Thank you for trusting me like this, Auntie Nodoka."

* * *

Once Nodoka left, Akane went over to her window and opened it. She climbed up on the window sill and saw Ranma on the roof, on his back gazing up at the sky, just like his mother had said. "Ranma," she called out, "can you help me up? I need to talk to you."

Ranma sat up and looked down at her, and Akane felt a deep pang of guilt as she saw that his eyes were red from crying. "Wouldn't you rather talk to one of your friends, someone who you would want to come visit?" he accused sharply.

Akane felt another pang of guilt. "Okay, I deserve that. I'm sorry about what I said. I was just frustrated about the arranged engagement and said some things I shouldn't have. I never meant that I didn't want to be friends. I wouldn't trade our engagement if it meant I'd never get to meet you and become your friend."

Ranma jumped down to Akane's window, grabbed her by the waist, and jumped back to the roof. "Thank you, Akane. I forgive you. Friends again?" He held out his hand to her.

Akane ignored his outstretched hand and instead fully embraced him in a hug. "I never stopped being your friend, you dummy."

Akane released her friend who had been shocked still at her unexpected gesture. She looked him in the eyes. "Again, I'm really sorry about what I said. I had no idea it would make you cry until your mother explained it to me."

"Who says you made me cry?" pouted Ranma. "Real men don't cry."

"You have, dummy," said Akane in a mocking tone. "Your eyes didn't get all red and puffy for no reason, did they?"

Ranma smiled and sat back down on the roof. "Okay, I've been crying," he admitted. "The idea of men not crying was one of many stupid ideas Pop drilled into me on our training trip. It wasn't until I broke down after getting cursed that I ever cried during the four years of our journey. I'd hate to think of what I'd be like if I hadn't left him and allowed Mom to knock some sense into me."

Akane flattened her dress and sat down next to him. "Have I ever told you that your father is a complete idiot?" she asked.

"No, but I never get tired of hearing anyone say it." replied Ranma with a smirk.

"You know, if you ever need someone to talk to about what he did to you, I'm willing to listen," suggested Akane.

"Thanks. I may take you up on that offer one of these days, but I'm now ready to discuss it now," said Ranma.

They both lay back and watched for a few minutes as more and more stars began to appear.

Eventually, Akane broke the silence. "I can see why you like it up here. It's very peaceful and relaxing."

Ranma turned his head towards her. "Yeah, I always go up to the roof of my own house whenever I need to think or just want to be alone. Of course, I don't have to be alone if I'm with the right company."

Akane rolled over on her side, propped her head on her elbow, and gave him a huge smile. "That reminds me. Why exactly did you pick me to be your fiancée? I thought for sure you would pick Kasumi. After all, she's incredibly kind and gentle, she can cook and sew and all that other stuff, she never loses her temper, and she's a lot more beautiful than I am. She'd be a much better wife than I'll ever be."

Ranma smiled. "Don't sell yourself short, Akane. I can understand how you'd be jealous of Kasumi, but you're better off focusing on your own strengths rather than trying to copy hers. I don't want someone who's dainty, fragile, and overly feminine. I want a girl who's not afraid and tough enough to stand up for herself, someone who can set me straight when I say or do something stupid. If possible, I want someone who enjoys martial arts just as much as I do, especially if she's really good at it herself. Do you know any girls like that?"

Akane was beaming with happiness at this description, while her heart started to pound within her chest. Ranma gave her a lopsided smile as he added, "Besides, while Kasumi is certainly a pretty girl, you're really hot yourself."

Akane started blushing. "You really think I'm that attractive?"

"Of course you are," replied Ranma with a grin. "Any guy would think so after seeing what I saw this morning. If this engagement works out, I certainly wouldn't mind waking up next to you like that each morning."

Akane was now blushing so badly Ranma thought she might be in danger of bursting some blood vessels. "Yeah, I saw how excited you were, you pervert." She punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Although, I have to say that you're very well endowed in both of your forms." She immediately put her face in her hands in embarrassment that she had actually said that to him.

Akane looked back at him through her fingers and saw that his face was now extremely red as well. She took a deep breath and lay back against the roof once again. Her heart was now pounding even harder than before. She had a feeling that she might actually want to kiss Ranma. She fought down the temptation, though. 'I can't kiss him. I've only known him for a day. It wouldn't be right to do that so soon. What would Ranma think? Right now, my friendship is more important to him, especially with this engagement hanging over our heads. Besides, I like Dr. Tofu. I can't just give up on him because of how he acts around Kasumi.' Akane started feeling confused, as she realized that what she was feeling for Ranma right now was different from what she felt for Dr. Tofu and was even starting to overshadow her feelings for the good doctor. She forced her mind away from the issue and once again took solace at looking at the stars.

Ranma snuck one last look at the girl who had somehow so quickly and thoroughly snuck her way into his life. If he had to be stuck with a fiancée, he was glad it was someone like her. He certainly could see himself eventually falling in love with her, which was more than he could say for a lot of other girls. Whether it worked out or not, though, she had already provided him with something that he now saw had previously been a huge void in his life: a true friend.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **So here we have our starring couple meeting in a way where they can start off as friends while already starting to develop an attraction towards each other. Do you think I pulled it off realistically enough?

Most of you have probably noticed the elimination of Ranma's distinctive speech pattern. Six years with his mother and continuous formal education over that time will do that to a guy (and I appreciate how much easier it is to write without having to focus so much on his speech). For the same reasons, he won't be as much of a slacker in school as he was in canon, although he'll never be a "Straight A" student.

Although Soun and Nodoka are now living together as single parents, I'm warning everyone right now that nothing romantic will ever happen between them. I prefer to stick to pairings supported by the manga (although clearly only some of them, otherwise Ranma and Akane would both wind up with bigger harems than Tenchi).


	3. Ch 2: The First Rival

**Chapter 2: The First Rival**

In the morning, Ranma awoke to unfamiliar surroundings. It took him a moment to remember that he was on a futon in the upstairs guest room of the Tendo home, (which was now also his home for the foreseeable future), but when he did, he smiled at the thought of the new friend he had made yesterday. He wasn't particularly thrilled about being expected to marry her after having only known her for a day, but it was worth it to have a friend like Akane. It wasn't like they were expected to get married anytime soon, leaving plenty of time to try and get out of it or maybe even decide they wanted to do it. After all, it wasn't like he had any other marriage prospects out there.

He went downstairs to the bathroom and found the bath all ready for him. He double-checked the sign to make sure nothing embarrassing would happen today. Although it had been confusion over his curse that had caused that accident rather than a misplaced sign, he was pretty sure Akane wouldn't forgive him again if it happened for a second time in two days. As his mind began to dwell on the beautiful sight that had walked in on him then, he immediately shook his head to clear it. 'She's my friend,' he thought. 'I can't be thinking about her like that.' Although, truth be told, she had featured prominently in one of his dreams that night, and it hadn't helped that he knew exactly what she looked like without any clothes.

Once he was finished, he left to find Akane waiting outside the changing room in a t-shirt and shorts. "Good morning, Ranma," she said with a smile. "I need to wash up after my morning jog, and then I'll join you for breakfast. Don't forget that we start school today, so don't take too long to get ready."

"Aww man, that's right," groaned Ranma. "I hate school and not just because of the schoolwork. It's always been so lonely without any real friends. Hopefully, it'll be better this year now that I _will_ have a friend at school."

"Well," considered Akane, "I'll help you any way I can, particularly with that curse of yours, and I'd like to hang out with you sometimes, but you should really find some other guys to talk to instead of following me around _all_ the time." She looked down and began tapping her index fingers together as a small blush spread across her cheeks. "I mean, it's not like I wouldn't enjoy your company, but it won't take long for Nabiki to spread the word about our, quote, engagement, and it will be really hard to convince everyone we're really just friends if you're always hanging around like you're my boyfriend or something."

Akane looked up at him. "By the way, what are you going to do about your curse? Are you going to just tell everyone or what? It'll be pretty hard to keep it a secret forever."

"Well," Ranma contemplated, "that's what I did in junior high, but I'm really starting things over in my life in more ways than one, so I'd like to keep it a secret as long as I can this time. Hopefully, my classmates will know me well enough when it does come out that it won't matter that much. Anyway, my mom always informs the teachers and other staff, so they'll be able to help settle things down when it happens."

"Alright, but make sure you tell Nabiki at breakfast," Akane warned, "and don't forget that she'll charge you quite a bit to keep the secret."

* * *

Despite Akane's warning, Ranma still found himself running a little late. Akane waited to show him the way to school, while Nabiki ran ahead.

As the newly engaged couple headed to school, Ranma told Akane a couple of jokes as he walked on top of the fences. Akane was curious about this behavior. "Why are you walking up there? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Nah," replied Ranma. "I do this sort of thing all the time. It's a nice way to train your balance when you don't have time to do any real training."

"Do you think you could teach me to do that?" asked Akane hopefully.

"Sure I could," replied Ranma as jumped down at the end of the fence. "You're really talented, so you shouldn't have much trouble at all with this. Of course, we'll have to start in the dojo before you're ready for any real fences, and when we do get to the fences, you'll have to wear shorts under your dress to make sure you don't reveal too much on a windy-"

SPLASH! Ranma was so focused on his conversation with Akane that he hadn't noticed the old woman with a ladle washing her sidewalk. Ranma was now a soaking wet female redhead, and the old lady had somehow missed the transformation as she just ignored them.

"Wow, that was unlucky." commented Akane.

Ranma shook her head. "You have no idea. Water just seems unnaturally drawn to me, and Pop says it's the same way with him. It must be part of the magic of Jusenkyo. Anyway, what'll I do now? I can't start school as a girl."

"But if we just pour hot water on you, you'll change back, right?" Akane pointed out. "C'mon, I know just the place."

* * *

Akane led Ranma to a small clinic nearby. Ranma waited outside while Akane asked for hot water from the old woman at the door.

"Hoooo boy," complained Ranma. "What a way to start the-" She was cut off as she felt a bony hand on her shoulder. She gave out a shout of surprise and jumped onto the side of the clinic sign. A man in glasses appeared behind her holding a skeleton. "Oh, pardon me," he apologized. "Nothing to worry about, dear. This is just Betty, my skeleton."

Ranma jumped down in relief as Akane came back out with a kettle. "Ranma, here's the hot-" she began only to cut herself off. "Well, Akane!" greeted the man with the skeleton. "Oh! Doctor!" Akane exclaimed. "Um...good morning." She politely bowed while placing the kettle on Ranma's head.

"Good morning to you," the doctor replied.

Akane was still glancing down nervously. Ranma had no trouble picking up what was going on here.

"Is your wrist feeling better since you had me look at it last week?" the doctor asked.

"Oh, yes. It's as good as new thanks to you," answered Akane.

"Interesting," said Ranma to himself as he poured the hot water while watching from around the corner.

* * *

"Who was that guy?" asked Ranma as the two teenagers continued on their way to school.

"Dr. Tofu, the chiropractor," answered Akane.

"Martial arts master, too, isn't he?" observed Ranma.

"Huh? How could you tell?" asked a surprised Akane.

"Sneaking up on me that way," explained Ranma. "He erased all sense of his presence."

"True, he's very good," confirmed Akane. "But he doesn't look like he'd be, does he? Ever since I was little, he's taken care of my injuries."

Ranma smirked as he looked down at his reluctant fiancée. "You've got a crush on him, doncha?"

Akane blushed and looked away. "You could tell?"

"It was pretty obvious." Ranma grinned. "So how are you going to break it to him that he's been dumped for that cute little redhead you showed up with this morning?"

"Raanmaaa!" complained Akane as she took a swipe at him with her school bag, which he easily jumped over and landed on the ground on her other side.

"Lighten up. It's just a joke." said Ranma. "You don't have to be so serious about everything, you know."

"Well, don't joke about _that_," growled Akane. "The engagement is bad enough as it is. I don't want people thinking I'm into girls like that.

Ranma grinned. "Well, maybe once we're married, I can use some cold water before bed and help you change your mind."

The glowing battle aura beside him provided Ranma some warning that he had once again stuck his foot in his mouth, seemingly as much a genetic curse in his family as a terrible sense of direction is for that Ryoga guy he once knew.

"Ranma, get back here, you jerk!" shouted Akane as she chased him through the school gate.

* * *

Akane managed to calm down once she caught up to Ranma at their classroom and merely hit him in the shoulder with her school bag. In response, Ranma stuck out his tongue at Akane as she picked a seat near two other girls she knew, and Ranma grabbed the one next to her.

"Akane, how do you know that guy?" asked one of the girls. "He's really cute. Have you been holding out on us?"

Akane sighed. "I'll tell you at lunch."

* * *

When lunchtime came, most of the class went outside to enjoy the nice weather. Remembering what Akane had said about giving her some space at school, Ranma was content to watch as Akane sat with her two friends, while he started inhaling his lunch.

Soon, two of the guys from his class approached him. "Hi, it's Ranma, right?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, Ranma Saotome," Ranma confirmed.

"I'm Hiroshi, and he's Daisuke," the boy introduced. "You weren't in junior high with us, so you must be new to the immediate area. How do you already know Akane Tendo? You were pretty familiar with her when the two of you came in this morning."

Ranma glanced over at where Akane was eating with her friends. In a rare occurrence for him, Ranma thought carefully about how to respond without revealing too much information. "Well, my pop and hers are old friends, and so my mom and I are staying with her family for a while for reasons I'd rather not discuss.

Daisuke grinned as he wrapped an arm around Ranma's shoulders. "You lucky dog, getting to live with a babe like Akane, not to mention her oldest sister."

Ranma shrugged off Daisuke's arm. "Hey, it's not like that. We're just friends." He couldn't help smiling, though, as he added, "Although, she is really cute." Hiroshi and Daisuke traded knowing glances.

"Just a word of advice, Ranma," warned Hiroshi. "It's best for your continued health not to try anything like peeping on her in the bath. Despite how cute she is, she's actually the best martial artist in Nerima. There are some rumors about some guy in another part of the ward considered good enough to take her, but she's never lost a fight as far as anyone remembers. She's also not afraid to use it and will pound any guy foolish enough to cross her."

Ranma chuckled inwardly at the continued irony of all of these comments but then grew annoyed as he realized what Hiroshi was suggesting. In a low growl, he asked, "Just what kind of guy do you think I am? I wouldn't do that to any girl and especially not a friend who's been kind enough to take me into her home."

At that point, Akane waved and called out to him. "Ranma, come over here and join us. My friends want to meet you." As Ranma walked over, Hiroshi turned to Daisuke and asked, "Do you get the feeling there's more going on here than he's saying?" "Maybe," answered Daisuke. "There's not enough time now, but after school we should see if Nabiki has any information to sell on Ranma."

* * *

As Akane sat down with her best friends Sayuri and Yuka, she could see how eager they were to talk about Ranma. "So spill, girl," began Sayuri. "Who is this Ranma guy you showed up with and who happens to be watching us right now." Akane resisted the urge to turn around and look for him as her cheeks turned slightly pink at learning that Ranma was watching her. "Yeah," piped in Yuka, "is he your boyfriend? I know it was school break and all, but you should tell your best friends when you start dating someone."

Akane nearly choked on her food. "It's not like that!" she insisted. "I only met him yesterday."

"Interesting," commented Sayuri. "It's not like you to warm up to a guy this quickly. How exactly did you meet?"

"Well..." began Akane slowly and nervously, "he and his mom are going to be living with my family for a while. His father and mine are old friends and martial arts training partners. However, Ranma's father abused him, and as a result of the trauma he's had trouble making any real friends. His mom thought it best to bring him to my family hoping my sisters and I could befriend him. He's actually a pretty nice guy and jumped at the chance to be friends with Kasumi and me, although he's understandably not too fond of Nabiki." Akane paused then added, "Don't tell anyone else what I told you about his father, and don't mention it to Ranma. He doesn't need any reminders of that."

Yuka nodded thoughtfully then asked, "So if his father and yours trained together, does that mean he's a martial artist, too? Is he anywhere near your level?"

Akane surprised them with her response. "Actually, he's a lot better than I am. He's even started teaching me a few things. While I'm disappointed that I'm no longer the best martial artist around, it's exciting to finally have someone to train with again."

"Well, call him over here," suggested Sayuri. "I want to meet this guy myself. If you're not interested in him, I may just ask him out myself. Besides, it looks like he could use an escape from Hiroshi and Daisuke over there. It looks like he's really getting uncomfortable."

Akane shook her head as she said, "I don't even want to think about what those two perverts are saying to him." She turned and quickly noticed Ranma unhappily talking to the two other boys. 'Yeah, I definitely need to get him out of there.' She began waving him over. "Ranma, come over here and join us. My friends want to meet you."

* * *

"Yo, what's up, Akane?" Ranma asked as he sat with the three girls. "Ranma, these are my best friends, Sayuri and Yuka," Akane introduced as she pointed them both out in turn.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ranma Saotome," responded Ranma with a smile. "I'm sort of a house guest of the Tendos for a while."

"Yeah, Akane was telling us some things about you. Are you really that good of a martial artist?" asked Yuka.

"Oh yeah, I'm the best," responded Ranma confidently. "Although, that's nothing against Akane's skills. She shows more potential than anyone I know other than myself."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Sayuri suddenly blurted out with a huge blush on her face, having momentarily forgotten how Akane had mentioned that Ranma didn't really have any friends before now.

Ranma and Akane both sweatdropped with nervous looks on their faces. Akane leaned over to Ranma and whispered, "Can I tell them about you know what? They're my best friends, and everyone will find out soon enough, anyway." Ranma slowly nodded.

"Okay, what's this about?" asked Yuka with a grin. "What haven't you told us?"

"Well, you see," began Akane. She nervously gulped before continuing. "Our families have this agreement in place from before we were born, and so Ranma and I are...sort of...engaged to be married."

"WHAT?!" shouted Sayuri and Yuka in unison.

"Shhh!" cautioned Akane as other students were now staring at them. "I don't want the school to know about this yet. Give us a day of peace before everything goes to h***."

"Akane, are you okay with this?" asked Sayuri. "I don't know what I'd do if I were expected to eventually fulfill an arranged marriage to a guy I had just met."

Akane sighed. "No, neither of us are okay with it, but we've accepted that there's nothing we can do about it for now. I agreed to be Ranma's friend, and I'm not going back on that just because of this. At least I'm not stuck with some total jerk and pervert, and who knows how things will work out between us once we know each other better?"

After a few more minutes of lighter conversation, the warning bell rang to signal the end of lunch. Ranma got up and began walking back to class. As Akane began to follow, Yuka grabbed her arm to hold her back as Sayuri stood nearby. "Wait up, Akane," Yuka said. "I know you, and I think you're already starting to like Ranma as more than just a friend. Maybe this engagement won't be a problem for you after all."

Akane blushed. "Well, I don't know about that," she said, "but I do like him more than any other guy my own age. For one thing, after spending the day with us yesterday, he was given the choice of which Tendo daughter he wanted for his fiancée, and he actually picked me." As Akane ran off, her two friends followed behind, Yuka with a knowing smile and Sayuri pouting that the new school hunk was effectively already taken.

* * *

Later that afternoon, the whole school gathered in the gymnasium for an orientation assembly. As part of the assembly, there was a little speech contest.

Ranma was bored and tuned out most of the speeches, but then he couldn't help listening as a junior named Tatewaki Kuno, dressed in some strange kendo robes, began to speak. He started laughing quietly at how this guy was doing his best to mangle Shakespeare, but he no longer felt like laughing once Kuno got to the main point of his speech: "If you wish to take Akane out...defeat her! I will permit no other terms!"

Ranma's and Akane's jaws both hit the ground. Ranma turned to Akane and said, "Please tell me he's talking about a different Akane."

Akane had her forehead in her hand. "I wish he was," she responded. "He's been obsessed with me for a couple of years now. He's a delusional loon who doesn't take 'no' for an answer. It was so much better when we were in different schools this past year."

"Well, if he's such an idiot, then at least you won't have worry about anyone taking him seriously," observed Ranma.

Ranma had no idea just how mistaken he was. As they walked out the front doors of the school to go home, they found their way blocked by a few dozen boys in the front courtyard, most of them armed with some kind of sporting equipment. One of them shouted, "Akane Tendo, you can't beat all of us!"

Ranma facepalmed. "You have got to be kidding me! How the heck are you so popular with the boys?!"

Akane shrugged, "I really don't know. It's not like I'm 'easy' or anything. It's just always been that way for me ever since the guys my age started noticing girls." She settled into a fighting stance. "I can take them, though, and it'll be good practice. Don't help unless I get in trouble."

Ranma nodded and sat down to watch. He was impressed as she took them all down easily in less than a minute. 'At least that'll teach 'em to back off,' he thought.

Suddenly, a projectile was thrown at Akane. She dodged it instinctively only to discover it wasn't a weapon at all but a red rose. From behind a tree stepped the instigator himself holding a bokken. "What fools these mortals be!" he proclaimed. "Surely, they must know that only I, Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, captain of the kendo club and the Shooting Star of Furinkan High, can defeat thee. Come, Akane Tendo, let us spar."

Ranma watched as Akane and Kuno fought. 'Hmm, this Kuno guy's not bad. I can tell he's holding back. He might actually be a challenge for Akane if he fought seriously. I wish I had some popcorn right now.'

Before long, Kuno was disarmed and sent tumbling to the ground, conscious but no longer able to fight.

Ranma walked forward to join his victorious fiancée. "Good job, Akane. You really kept your focus there. I call dibs on him next if he's foolish enough to keep harassing you, though. Nobody treats my friends like that and gets away with it."

"Sure, you can have the next crack at him," Akane agreed. "Let's go home. Kasumi said she'd have cookies ready for us after our first day."

Still on the ground, Kuno pondered what he had just heard between his goddess Akane and this strange new boy with a pigtail. "Who is that man, and why is he so friendly with Akane?" he asked himself. "None must stand in the way of my pursuit of the fierce tigress. I must seek out her mercenary sister and find out who he is." Eventually, he managed to pull himself to his feet and went in search of Nabiki, who always stayed late to work on her various "businesses."

* * *

Nabiki was waving down the crowd of people around her, which included Hiroshi and Daisuke. When she finally got them settled down, she announced, "I know you're curious about Ranma, but we're going to do this in an orderly fashion. First of all, if anyone is here to see me about something else, please step aside, and I'll deal with you later." Nobody moved. "Now this is how it's going to work," Nabiki continued. "I will tell everyone everything I can but not until I get a pot of 100,000 yen. If you can't or won't combine your funds to reach that amount, then I'll say nothing and return the money."

The gathered students grumbled at the price but still began offering up as much as they were willing to add to the pot. By the time everyone had added to the pot, they were still well short of the goal, however. "C'mon people, only 67,500 more yen to hear the story of Ranma Saotome," Nabiki teased.

"I'll cover the balance, assuming this Ranma Saotome is the name of that pig-tailed boy the fair Akane Tendo suddenly seems fond of" said a disgusted voice as Kuno limped into the room. He quickly wrote out a check and handed it to Nabiki. Nabiki smiled a predator-like grin having known Kuno wouldn't be able to resist doing just as he had.

"What's the matter, Kuno-baby?" Nabiki asked sarcastically. "You look like you're hurt. Did my sister beat you up, or did Ranma get involved and do that to you?"

"It was indeed the fierce tigress Akane who defeated me, but surely you jest if you believe her pig-tailed companion could ever best a warrior such as I."

"Only you could proclaim such a stupid challenge, Kuno-baby," Nabiki remarked. "My sister won't agree to a date with you even if you or any of the others do eventually beat her."

"Enough of thy sharp tongue, vile mercenary. You have your money, so enlighten us," Kuno retorted.

"Well, first of all, let's make sure everyone is on the same page," Nabiki began. "You may or may not already be aware of the various bits I'm about to share. Ranma Saotome and his mother are currently house guests at my family's home. They arrived yesterday, and he and Akane already consider themselves to be friends. Ranma is the heir to the Saotome Style of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, the sister branch to my family's Tendo Style. He's actually even better than Akane and has been teaching _her_ a few things." Murmurs went through the crowd at the revelation that he had surpassed an expert like Akane."

"Now the big secret is the true reason Ranma is staying with my family." Nabiki grinned. "My father and Ranma's mother have set up an arranged marriage between our families. Ranma is now Akane's fiancé."

"Fiancé!" shouted Kuno. "I shall never allow such a union to take place! I, Tatewaki Kuno, Shooting Star of Furinkan High, shall smite the foul Saotome when he arrives at school tomorrow!"

'Sure, you will,' thought Nabiki sarcastically. 'I should make a bundle gathering bets on that fight.' "Well, that's all I have to say," she said out loud as she started walking away. 'Of course, there's the whole thing about Ranma's curse, but he was smart enough to pay me to keep quiet about that. I wouldn't have accepted any hush money about the engagement, though, even if they had offered.'

* * *

The next morning, when Ranma and Akane got to school, they found to their disappointment that every single member of what they now called the "Hentai Horde" was waiting for Akane once again.

"Do you mind if I help out this time?" asked Ranma as they approached the front gate.

"You might as well," agreed Akane. "It's going to get really annoying if they keep doing this to me."

Ranma and Akane rushed through the crowd of admirers and quickly took them all out as they ran past. They came to a stop in front of Kuno, who was blocking the front entrance of the school. He once again threw a red rose at Akane, who caught it this time but then threw it down in disgust. "How many times do I have to tell you, Kuno?" Akane asked sarcastically. "I will never date you! You disgust me!"

"Fear not, Akane Tendo," proclaimed Kuno. "You will be able to express your true feelings of love for me once I have dealt with this vile wretch who doth invade your home and proclaim himself as your fiancé. You did say you wanted to fight me next, did you not, Saotome?"

The students who hadn't yet heard about the engagement started making a racket at the news. Ranma and Akane tried to explain that it was their parents who had decided on it, but the excitement refused to die down. Finally, Nabiki got everyone's attention and told them to settle down if they wanted to see Ranma and Kuno fight.

Ranma's face held a cocky grin. "Here, hold my bag," he said as he tossed said item to Akane. "My name is Ranma Saotome of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts, and I accept your challenge." He shifted into a fighting stance.

"Hey, somebody's taking on Kuno," someone shouted. "Talk about dangerous," said another. Nabiki and her friends walked around quickly taking bets. While those who had heard that Ranma was a martial artist even more skilled than Akane were all placing bets in favor of Ranma, the story had yet to spread very far, therefore the large majority of the bets were in favor of Kuno.

Kuno rushed forward and swung his bokken with enough power to split the concrete wall of the school boundary, but Ranma had easily dodged. A nearby tree suddenly met its demise as well, but not before Ranma flipped over Kuno's head. Kuno turned and picked it up a notch as he continually thrust forward at near in-human speed. Somehow, Ranma avoided every single one of these thrusts so that the only damage done was to the crumbled and collapsed head of a nearby fox statue from the air pressure of the strikes.

Akane gasped in shock at witnessing Kuno's true skill level. She knew he had been holding back against her as he did against any female opponent, but she had no idea he was _this_ good. Ranma was surprised as well. 'Man, I didn't think it was even possible to do these kinds of things with a wooden sword without ki manipulation,' he thought. 'Forget being a challenge. He could easily beat Akane if he really wanted to.'

As good as Kuno was, though, he still couldn't land a blow on Ranma, who now snuck inside Kuno's guard and struck his forehead with the fingers of one hand while he readied a punch with the other.

However, before Ranma could land his blow, rain began to fall, and Ranma was forced to quickly dash into the tress before anyone could get a good look at his transformation. Akane immediately began running for the equipment shed for a kettle of hot water to change Ranma back.

Kuno was perplexed at the sudden retreat and became even more confused when several of the gathered students laughed and pointed at him. "What? What is so amusing?" he asked menacingly.

Nabiki walked up and handed him her pocket mirror as she snickered. "Oh, Kuno-baby, Ranma already knows you just too well." Kuno looked in the mirror in shock as the word "buffoon" was bruised into his forehead. "I-I didn't even feel him d-do it," he stammered. He shook his head to reinforce some of his delusions. "No matter, Ranma Saotome is understandably a coward who would rather flee before my awesome might than suffer defeat. However, I, Tatewaki Kuno, shall draw out this scoundrel and finish him off." Kuno handed back Nabiki's mirror ran off in the same direction Ranma had left.

Nabiki smiled at this unexpected outcome. If Ranma could avoid encountering Kuno in his male form for the rest of the day, Nabiki's windfall would be much greater than if Ranma had won his expected victory. While there had been a few bets calling for the fight to be interrupted without a winner, it was clearly not an outcome most people had considered. With these thoughts, Nabiki entered the school and headed for class. While she would've loved to personally watch what would happen when Kuno caught up to female Ranma, her education was more important at the moment.

* * *

Luckily, Akane managed to spot Ranma hiding in a tree before Kuno could spot them, but Kuno wasn't far behind. Thankfully, the rain had stopped by this point. "I'll hold him off while you change back. Catch!" Akane tossed the kettle up to Ranma then went to confront Kuno.

Unfortunately, Akane's aim was slightly off, and Ranma barely managed to hang onto the tree branch with her feet in order to catch the handle of the kettle. With the kettle weighing her down, Ranma found it difficult to pull herself back upright.

Meanwhile, Akane had caught Kuno's bokken in her hands and performed a backwards rolling kick to launch Kuno behind her and straight at Ranma. Ranma had finally managed to pull herself up when Kuno landed head first on top of the kettle.

"You're still a girl?!" asked Akane in surprise.

Acting like this was a completely normal position, Kuno asked Ranma, "So, did you see where that boy in a pigtail went?"

Ranma shook her head and answered, "Uh-uh," which was technically the truth.

Not realizing to whom he was actually speaking, Kuno began spouting off. "That coward! Running away from a fight! No doubt he feared my prowess! He is no man! He is no man!"

As a particular sore spot for Ranma considering his curse, Ranma couldn't listen to him anymore and let go of the kettle, dropping Kuno to the ground. Kuno pulled his head out of the flattened kettle and stated the obvious. "That hurt, you know."

Losing the last of her patience, Ranma called out, "I'm not gonna hang there and take this! I can take you any time! Come on!" She settled into a fighting stance.

"Heh, amusing," Kuno responded. "Well, should you win, I will allow you to go out with me." He grabbed his bokken back from Akane and swung horizontally. Ranko jumped over the blow and landed balanced atop the wooden blade. "And who's asking to go out with you?" she complained as she took Kuno down with a single kick to the face. Too late, Kuno realized that this mysterious pig-tailed girl was even more skilled than Akane. 'Who on Earth...' he asked himself.

Ranma flipped the discarded bokken into the air with her foot and caught it easily. As a parting shot, she proclaimed, "And guess what, Kuno. Ranma Saotome's even better than me."

Once back inside, Akane guarded the door while Ranma entered the girls' bathroom and changed back into a boy once he confirmed the place was otherwise empty. They entered the classroom halfway through their first class and were immediately sent out for bucket duty.

* * *

Kuno ignored Ranma and Akane for the rest of the day while he thought about this new girl who had defeated him, this pig-tailed goddess. Akane was relieved to discover that the Hentai Horde had apparently decided on morning-only assaults and so likewise left her alone for the rest of the day.

* * *

That evening, Ranma went up to Akane's room to thank her for helping him out with Kuno once his curse had activated. He was about to knock on her bedroom door, when he heard Nabiki's voice. "So you really don't mind that he can turn into a girl?"

"It's not like it's his fault or he can do anything about it," replied Akane. "It's just this kind of attitude that makes him afraid to make friends."

"But aren't you afraid that he'll use that body to sneak into the girls' locker room or something? Aren't you the girl who's always complaining about boys being perverts?"

"Ranma's not like that," argued Akane. "When I accidentally walked in on him in the bath the other day, he was so scared and nervous as he explained his curse, it was actually kind of sweet. He was more worried that I was going to yell at him than he was interested in ogling me, although I can certainly confirm that he's not gay." She giggled before continuing. "Anyway, I believe him when he says he doesn't use his cursed form in any perverted ways."

"Whatever," replied Nabiki. "I do have to admit it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me as long as I had a hunk like Ranma to call my own. I don't suppose his gender-bending is actually a positive factor in your quick interest in your new fiancée, is it? Does my little sister actually swing from both sides of the plate?"

"NABIKI! That is not true! Get out!" Akane shouted.

As Nabiki left the room, Akane noticed Ranma standing just outside her room. "Um, Akane," Ranma began nervously as he looked down and twiddled his fingers, "I'm sorry about eavesdropping but I couldn't help but listen. Thank you for what you said to Nabiki just now, and thank you for helping me out with Kuno at school today. I really appreciate it."

"You don't have to thank me for that, Ranma," Akane replied. "What kind of friend would I be if I left you with Kuno in your female form?"

"Thanks all the same," insisted Ranma. "I'm glad my mom dragged me over here even with the engagement."

"Me too," replied Akane truthfully as she flashed one of her brilliant smiles.

* * *

The next day at school, Kuno decided to talk to Nabiki about this mysterious new girl who had defeated him the day before. "What?!" he shouted.

"Sure, I know her," Nabiki confirmed. "The girl with the pig-tail and Chinese clothes."

"Nabiki Tendo, can this be true?!" Kuno asked in amazement. He quickly wrote a note addressed to the "Tree-borne Kettle Girl" and gave it to Nabiki to deliver.

At home, Ranma read the note: "On Sunday, in the tenth hour, meet me in the second field of Furinkan High School."

"Sounds like a duel, huh?" observed Akane.

"Kuno-baby just hates to lose," added Nabiki.

* * *

Ranma met Kuno as invited in his girl form. As they were standing there, Ranma noticed something was missing. "Where's your sword, huh?" she asked.

"Heh, I have no need of a sword," Kuno replied.

"Yeah? Pretty confident, I guess," Ranma concluded.

"Confident enough to give you _this_." Kuno quickly tossed an item from behind his back, which Ranma easily caught with her great reflexes. To her surprise, it was a bouquet of red roses. "I love you," confessed Kuno. He turned his back and slowly walked away, while Ranma fell to her knees in shock.

* * *

The next morning, Ranma woke up screaming after having a nightmare about Kuno chasing his girl form while unable to change back. He shuddered as he remember Kuno's declaration of love the day before.

As usual, the Hentai Horde was waiting for them when Ranma and Akane got to school, and as usual they all fell easily.

Kuno came charging towards them as expected. "Together, this time?" Ranma asked Akane. Akane nodded. As one, they jumped into the air while still running and each delivered a flying kick to Kuno's face, taking him down for the count. They landed and kept running into the building.

* * *

In their classroom at lunch, Kuno gave Nabiki a panda stuffed animal for her to deliver to the pig-tailed girl, causing Nabiki to spit out her juice in Kuno's face in surprise. Knowing Kuno couldn't resist, she quickly became 3000 yen richer off a set of photos she had taken of girl type Ranma, somewhat risque due to the fact that Ranma only wore bras the rare times he would transform on purpose for a specific task (mooching free or extra food being her favorite).

Feeling less conflicted on sicing Kuno on her gender-swapped future brother-in-law (or is that sister-in-law?) than her own sister, she hinted that he might want to drop Akane for "her," but naturally Kuno was a big enough pervert to want to two-time them both. Assuaging her guilt with this minor attempt of persuasion, Nabiki then proceeded to double her take with pictures of Akane. She then told him how to deliver the stuffed panda.

* * *

As the final bell sounded, Akane was still a little miffed over the practical joke Ranma had played that morning. After breakfast, she had returned to her room to grab her schoolbag she had apparently forgotten to bring down (although in hindsight Ranma probably put it back up there). She had found her bedroom door ajar with a smooth wooden stick poking out and Kuno's voice proclaiming, "I would date with thee." She had screamed only for Ranma to come out laughing, holding a stick he had widdled himself and a tape recorder. Akane's response had been to grab the stick and smash it over Ranma's head.

She glanced over as Nabiki came in and told Ranma that Kuno wanted to see him. Naturally, she followed to see just what the fruitcake was up to this time.

* * *

At the meeting place, Ranma was surprised as Kuno dropped a stuffed panda in his arms. "Tell me why I must give this to you," he commanded.

"Say again?" Ranma asked, confused.

"'If you want to give her your panda, give it to Ranma Saotome,' quoth Nabiki Tendo," Kuno explained. "How do you know my pig-tailed goddess?!"

Ranma began walking away. "Forget her. Trust me, you're not her type. You'll probably never even see _her_ again, anyway."

However, Murphy's Law of Jusenkyo Transformation struck once again as soon as Ranma rounded the corner, this time a dumped pail of water acting as the method of implementation, although the panda plush had thankfully been spared.

Kuno immediately gave chase, rounding the corner to find...absolutely nobody, as Ranma had been smart enough to immediately jump into a nearby tree. Unfortunately, that very tree immediately met an untimely end, as Kuno absentmindedly cut it down with his bokken.

As Ranma fell out, she was immediately besieged by Kuno. "How I've missed y-" He was cut off by a punch to the face.

"Back off!" complained Ranma. "And stop cutting down so many d*** trees. Do you want Greenpeace to come after you?" 'At least those branches are a good place to stash the panda toy for now.'

Kuno ignored her and proclaimed, "I shall never let you go!" as he glomped Ranma in a way that would later became a registered trademark of the Chinese Amazons.

Kuno didn't notice when a kettle of hot water was then poured over Ranma's head. "Too hot, Ranma?" asked Nabiki, who held the offending kettle. "Ranma?" questioned Kuno.

"Okay, honey, time to let go," complained Ranma as he broke away from the hug. "Do you get it now, idiot? So long."

"Hold, Saotome!" shouted Kuno. "Where have you hidden my goddess? Upperclassmen Kuno shall not be fooled by such trickery!"

Ranma and Nabiki both face-faulted. "Seriously, man, how the h*** did you ever get into 11th grade without ever flunking?" asked Ranma.

"Hmmm," Nabiki considered. "He just won't get it until we spell it out." She approached Kuno. "C'mere, Kuno-baby, listen. See, that girl there, her body, her soul, all _his_. You know what I mean, don't you?"

Kuno went ballistic. "Tyrant!" he cried as he swung (and missed) at Ranma once again. He then described a scene of sexual slavery that had Ranma about ready to hurl as Kuno was ignorantly describing how Ranma would be literally screwing himself. "You think you could rephrase that, Nibiki?" he asked sarcastically.

As the two alpha males continued to fight it out, Akane finally caught up. 'What is it now?" she thought.

Ranma landed a double-footed kick to Kuno's chest causing a bunch of pictures to spill out of his robe. Ranma snatched one to discover it was a photo of his own girl side. Distracted by the discovery, Ranma took a hit to the side from Kuno's bokken. Ranma recovered quickly and quickly snatched up the rest while dodging Kuno's blade. "You look elsewhere in the midst of battle," Kuno complained. "You do not take me seriously!"

Ranma barely avoided a quick thrust and did a series of backwards rolls to wind up on his head looking up at Akane. "I think you should know," informed Akane, "that when he battles a male opponent, Upperclassman Kuno is very skilled."

"Yeah, I already figured that one out," agreed Ranma. "By the way," continued Ranma in a voice quiet enough that only Akane could hear, "I think _you_ should know that you should really remember to wear panties under your dresses. Although, thanks for the free view of the promised land."

Akane's face turned white as a sheet as she took a step back and crossed her thighs. "That was your fault, you pervert," she squeaked. "You scared me so badly this morning, I, uh, lost control of my bladder, and I only had time to take off the wet panties I was wearing."

"Heh, heh, sorry about that," Ranma apologized. "You can hit me later, but right now I've got an idiot to finish pounding." He charged back towards Kuno and once again dodged Kuno's "sticky" weapon as he performed what appeared to be an upwards arcing kick through a backflip. Kuno fell to the ground unconscious. Akane flipped his prone form over to discover several foot-shaped impressions each over a vulnerable spot on Kuno's body. Somehow, Ranma had kicked Kuno accurately six times so fast Nabiki couldn't see a single blow.

"Upperclassman Kuno didn't have much, did he?" proclaimed Ranma in victory.

"What do you mean? You took a hit too, didn't you?" observed Akane.

Ranma blew it off. "Oh that. Doesn't even itch." Akane tried patting it only for Ranma to double over in tears.

Akane smirked. "So he didn't have much, eh?" she teased. "Say, what was it that distracted you in the fight?" she asked.

"Kuno had these," he replied while showing her all the photos he snatched.

Akane knew where they must have come from. "My own sister!"

"Just making a little money on the side," Nabiki rationalized.

Akane growled and turned back to Ranma to see him looking at one of the photos of her.

Although somewhat flattered in his interest of her photo, she wasn't in the mood right now. "That reminds me," she growled. "You looked between my legs!" WHAP! POW! BONK! KRAK!

* * *

Once again at Dr. Tofu's clinic, where he never seems to get paid for his services, pretzel-Ranma was brought in by Akane. "Dr. Tofu, a patient for you," she called out in a eerily cheerful voice considering she had personally afflicted Ranma with his current pretzel shape.

"This is astounding!" concluded Dr. Tofu. "The wound from the sword is nothing compared to these other dislocations and contusions! This is brutal! What kind of thug did this?"

Dr. Tofu leaned in close as Ranma began to speak. "Not...not a thug. Went a little too far teasing a...a really cute friend."

"Just a little too far?" scoffed Akane as she blushed at being called "really cute."

Dr. Tofu slapped his knee and began laughing. "Well, it figures. I had a feeling." He then proceeded to describe Akane's signature style of physical brutality (joining the likes of Sakura Haruno, Makoto Kino, Naru Narusegawa, Kaoru Kamiya, and Kaname Chidori in the manga multiverse as really cute, completely human girls to have reached this level) as his popped Ranma's joints back into place as good as new.

As he was doing so, he commented, "You're Ranma, aren't you? I hear you're Akane's fiancé."

"That's what our parents decided, not us!" Akane argued.

"Well, it's too early isn't it? You're still children after all," commented Dr. Tofu.

Akane sighed. 'I'm just a little child,' she thought.

* * *

As they prepared to leave and return home, Dr. Tofu stopped Ranma as he was walking out. "Just a moment, Ranma. Fiancée or not, it's nice to see that you consider her a friend. She is a very sweet girl once you get past the rough edges, something I think the two of you have in common. If you can just be her friend, things will work out, and you may find yourselves wanting to be more than friends on your own terms."

"To tell you the truth, Doc, I do already kind of like her, but she likes someone else," Ranma confessed.

Dr. Tofu flashed a knowing smile. "Just be patient, and you'll get your chance. This guy she currently likes may not be very well suited for her, anyway." He gave Ranma a friendly pat on the rear as he pushed him out the door.

* * *

"What were you talking about?" asked Akane as they walked home.

"Oh, he was just saying that it's important for us to be friends, whether or not we eventually wind up married," answered Ranma.

"That's good advice," agreed Akane. "It's a good thing we're already friends. By the way, thanks for the panda, even if it did originally come from Kuno."

They walked in silence for the next half a minute or so until Ranma's legs inexplicably went out on him. He soon realized the good doctor had set him up, as they both enjoyed the close comfort of the piggyback ride the rest of the way home.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I'm not happy with how close to the manga I had to make this chapter, but at this point of the story, I just couldn't think of any more reasonable deviations from it. Most of the chapters will have better twists than this.

I've pretty much decided to go with one story arc per chapter, so a lot of them will probably be pretty long, while some of them might end up quite a bit shorter. There will be some exceptions like combining smaller arcs or dividing up larger arcs such as the Cat's Tongue Arc. At this point, I've got a basic chapter outline (some parts more complete than others) up to the Sauce of 10 Years Arc.

Yes, I know the speech contest is only mentioned in the animé, but the manga doesn't really explain how Kuno made the challenge, so the speech contest explanation is just as good as anything I could invent.


	4. Ch 3: Fwiendship Bwings Us Togeder Today

**Chapter 3: ****Fwiendship Is Whot Bwings Us Togeder Today**

The next morning, Ranma was waiting for Akane at the front door when she came down for her morning jog. "Good morning, Akane. From now on, I want you to cut your jogs in half, so we can do some early morning training. I've got some good ideas on how to-" Suddenly, Ranma felt his chest and arms being crushed in the embrace of the giddy bluenette now wrapped around him. "*gasp* I kinda need to breathe, you know," he squeaked out.

"Sorry, Ranma," apologized Akane. "I'm just so excited about having a real sensei again." She gave him one of her heartwarming smiles and then headed out the door.

'Man, she's cute,' thought Ranma as he watched her leave with a goofy smile on his face.

* * *

When Akane returned home, she quickly changed into her gi and joined Ranma in the dojo. Ranma had a wooden beam on one side of the floor that he had carved (after getting permission from Soun to borrow a katana from the dojo) and sanded the previous night from the tree Kuno had cut down the day before. He set Akane to work practicing her balance on the beam in preparation for the fences. She was somewhat clumsy at first, but she showed improvement after just a few trips across as her confidence grew. After that, he showed her a couple of speed drills and assigned her to practice both training exercises on her own during her free time.

Finally, Ranma invited Akane to spar directly with him. He explained how he didn't feel comfortable hitting her with even a fraction of his power, so he had set about devising an alternate method ever since she had asked him to train her the week before. First of all, he would hold back his speed to a level only slightly faster than Akane. He then held a small water pistol in each palm. Whenever Akane overextended one of her attacks or left a bad opening, he would squirt her in the location where he would've counterattacked. In particular, this method provided incentive to avoid blows to the face. (Akane made herself a mental note to never go without a bra during these sessions.) As for positive reinforcement, whenever Akane showed an excellent attack combination, Ranma would let her hit him with a glancing blow.

They started in the dojo but soon made their way out and around the yard. Eventually, Ranma couldn't help but show off a little by making acrobatic leaps over the koi pond to Akane's frustration. Nabiki noticed this as she watched and decided to have a little fun. She waited for the right moment then called out, "Hey, Saotome, are you a martial artist or a kangaroo?" Ranma stumbled into one of his jumps and landed in the koi pond. Nabiki and Akane both burst out laughing, while a grumbling, wet, female Ranma emerged from the pond. "It serves you right, dummy, jumping around like that," commented Akane.

Ranma pulled her shirt off and started wringing it out, thereby revealing her generous assets. "Oh, my!" exclaimed Kasumi, who had just come outside to call the reluctant couple inside to take their baths before breakfast. "Ranma, don't expose yourself like that!" complained Akane as she grabbed the shirt and whacked Ranma's bare back with the sharpness of a wet towel.

"Yeooowch!" screamed Ranma as she jumped in pain. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she quickly apologized as she put her shirt back on. "I still have a hard time remembering not to do that sometimes. Mom's always on my back about feminine modesty, but at least she doesn't hit me for it," she added with a glare.

* * *

Once everyone was enjoying breakfast (with Ranma once again male), Akane voiced her curiosity over something she had noticed. "Ranma, what exactly are your shirts made of? I've always thought they were silk, but it certainly didn't feel like it when I grabbed it earlier."

Ranma chuckled. "Do you really think we could afford silk? Mom and I barely get by as it is, even with the occasional child support payment we can wrangle out of Pop. Besides, the way I attract water, my clothes would be constantly getting ruined if I wore silk. It's just a synthetic blend that looks a lot like silk."

"That reminds me," interrupted Nodoka. "That nice Dr. Tofu gave me a part-time job at a better hourly rate than the restaurant offers. Now I can quit that horrible waitress job and work close to our new home at the same time. I start today."

"That's great news, Mom," replied Ranma. "I know you always hated it when the perverts in there would grab or pinch your a**."

"By the way," added Kasumi, "Akane, on your way home from school, could you stop by Dr. Tofu's? I borrowed this book from him, and I'd like you to return it," she asked with a smile as she held up a medical text.

"Could you, um, do it yourself, Kasumi? Today's, uh, just not good for me," Akane stuttered.

"Really? Well, I guess I'll have to," Kasumi responded.

"Come on, Akane, you know you're dying to go," teased Ranma.

Akane growled and shot him a nasty look before grabbing him by his pigtail and dragging him from the table. "We're going to be _late_, Ranma!"

* * *

"What are you so heated up about?" asked Ranma as Akane dragged him through the streets with a bowl and chopsticks still in his hands. She didn't stop until she reached the school gate, not even with Ranma's soprano voice begging her to stop after falling victim once again to the old lady with the ladle.

Once inside, she held Ranma up against the boundary wall. "Listen, Ranma! Why don't you keep your big mouth-"

"What do you mean, 'big mouth?'" interrupted Ranma.

"I mean about Dr. Tofu and-" Akane started to clarify until she finally noticed Ranma's change in gender.

Opening the front of Ranma's shirt to expose the most obvious evidence (to an outside observer, anyway) of the recent transformation, Akane was confused about when it could've happened when she noticed some odd looks in their direction from some members of the Hentai Horde. She quickly turned around and allowed Ranma to cover herself as she asked, "So! Who's first today?"

To her surprised, the perverted boys were all weeping. "Akane, we shall no longer challenge you," explained one of the mob. Another one added, "Instead, we shall all swallow our sobs and give our approval to your engagement to Ranma."

Akane was confused, as her engagement had been known almost from the beginning, so why had they waited a week before giving up? "What in the name of-" she began, only to be interrupted by the advancing mummified form of a certain kendoist.

"So then," Kuno began. "You have all heard this rumor, this falsehood that Ranma Saotome defeated me. Upperclassman Kuno does not admit defeat!"

"Kuno was the greatest fighter at Furinkan High," explained one of the boys. "Yeah, and the greatest pervert," added another, which earned him a glare from Kuno. "If it's Ranma you've chosen, then we shall give you up," proving once and for all that they would've made good Chinese Amazons through their similar barbaric ideas of courtship through combat.

"Kuno shall _not_ give up," contradicted the leader, who had more determination and hormones than brains and common sense. He pulled off some of his bandages to reveal his face as well as one of the large bruises that he had received courtesy of Ranma in their previous fight. "A hundred, even two hundred kicks from a coward like Ranma do not even itch!"

"Just who are you calling a coward?" complained Ranma as she stepped forward, having lost track of her current gender. "Can't admit that you lost, huh?"

Akane tried to warn her, but it was too late. Kuno's face lit up as he exclaimed, "Ohhhh! It is you, my pigtailed goddess! How I have pined to see you!"

Ranma started to get scared. "Whoa, whoa, I thought you liked Akane," she complained.

"Of course I do," replied Kuno.

"She's watching, you know," Ranma pointed out.

Akane considered hamming it up to Kuno's delusions by using Ranma to attempt to get herself off the hook, but she couldn't do that to her friend, especially one who's not attracted to any men whatsoever, let alone Kuno. "Kuno, stay away from my friend! Neither of us want to date you!" she yelled. Kuno just continued rambling as if he had never heard, proclaiming his love to both of them, until Ranma finally shut him up with a kick to the face.

Ranma sighed as she and Akane headed for the front doors. "I have a feeling that guy is going to be a major pain in the butt."

* * *

In gym class that day, Ranma impressed the class with his acrobatics on the high bar. While other boys in the class took their turn, Ranma sat down to watch the girls play baseball, leaving an opening for Hiroshi and Daisuke to approach him from both sides.

"Man, she's cute," pointed out Hiroshi as they watched Akane make a jumping catch in gym shorts so skimpy that they should be half of a bikini.

Ranma could only nod in response, as he felt his heart beat louder at the sight of Akane smiling. 'It's too bad she's already got a guy she likes,' he thought.

"So level with us," said Hiroshi. "How far have you gotten with Akane?"

"Don't play innocent," added Daisuke. "You're her fiancé, right?"

Hiroshi and Daisuke then proceeded to suggest several intimate things they thought the engaged couple might have tried, things that if described here would automatically push this fanfic to an M rating, so to preserve the T rating, such things will be left to the readers' imaginations.

[Ranma: Hey, quit breaking the fourth wall and get back to the story.]

[Compucles: Sorry, Ranma. Back we go. It's your line.]

Ranma grabbed Hiroshi by the front of his shirt and angrily responded, "First of all, I don't even know what half that stuff means! Second, despite what our parents decided, we're just friends right now. Third, even if we were in a relationship, I wouldn't do anything like that with her until and if we got married, and maybe not even then for a couple of those things. If I ever again catch you or anyone else making such perverted suggestions about Akane, I'll-"

Unfortunately, Ranma didn't get to finish his threat, because at that moment a baseball had slammed into his cheek and taken up residence.

"Oh, no!" shouted Akane from where she had fouled off the pitch into the face of her friend. "I'm so sorry, Ranma," she apologized as she ran over and helped Ranma remove the offending object. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's just a bruise," replied Ranma.

"It looks pretty bad. We should have Dr. Tofu take a look at it," Akane diagnosed. "Although," she added teasingly, "I would've thought you would've been able to dodge or catch something like that."

"I had something on my mind," Ranma vaguely explained.

* * *

"I'm sorry. Does it still hurt?" asked Akane as she walked with Ranma from school to Dr. Tofu's clinic. Ranma had a large bandage on his cheek covering his injury.

"Akane, you've already apologized 30 times!" Ranma replied. "It's okay. It was just an accident."

When they reached the clinic, they saw Nodoka sweeping the front walk. "Hi, Mom," Ranma greeted. "How's work going?"

"Just fine, dear," answered Nodoka. "Dr. Tofu keeps me busy, but he isn't too strict." She then noticed Ranma's bandage. "What happened to your cheek? Is everything okay at school?" She reached for Ranma's face and tried to remove Ranma's bandage to see the injury for herself."

"Mooooom!" complained Ranma as he squirted away from her reach. "I'm fine, really! It was just a little accident in gym class. We just want Dr. Tofu to take a quick look."

"Oh, okay," Nodoka conceded. "You can't blame a mother for being a little overprotective of her only child."

Just then, Dr. Tofu appeared in the doorway. "Well, well, Ranma and Akane! This is Ms. Himura. She just started working for me today," he introduced. "Do you know each other?" He led the teens inside where they explained how they knew his new employee. "You don't say! Ranma's mother?!" he exclaimed. "I should've guessed. There's a lot of resemblance between you two, particularly with Ranma's girl form." They had explained to Dr. Tofu about Ranma's curse during a quick visit a few days ago.

"Ranma, what happened to your face?" asked Dr. Tofu as he began to prepare tea.

"Little baseball accident," Ranma replied.

"I have a balm that works wonders. Back in a jiffy," Dr. Tofu responded.

While he was getting the balm, the clinic phone rang. "Darn," called Dr. Tofu from the other room. "Ms. Himura, could you answer that, please?"

Nodoka picked up the phone and greeted, "Hello, this is Dr. Tofu's clinic. Can I help you, please?" After a few seconds pause to listen to the caller, she replied, "No, the doctor isn't too busy. Of course you can come over to return his book, Kasumi."

As the mention of her sister's name, Akane suddenly became very nervous. She turned to Ranma and quietly said, "Um, Ranma, we should be heading home now."

"Huh? Is something wrong?" asked Ranma, confused at how suddenly Akane wanted to leave.

"No, nothing like that," Akane replied.

"So, what's the big hurry?" asked Ranma. "I still need the balm the doc promised me. Besides, I thought you'd want to stay with Doc-" Ranma was cut off as Akane pushed him against the wall and covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shut up!" commanded Akane. "Trust me, your bruise will be the least of your problems if you get in Dr. Tofu's reach while Kasumi is here." Akane removed her hand and got a sad look in her eyes as she continued. "You see, Dr. Tofu really likes Kasumi, the way he looks at her, and he goes crazy whenever she's around."

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad," said Ranma as he tried to reassure his friend.

"What are you two doing?" asked Dr. Tofu as he rejoined them in the waiting room.

"Huh? Uh, nothing," Ranma quickly replied. He turned to Akane and added, "Look, this bruise really stings. I'll just have him take a quick look, and then we can go."

"It's your funeral," Akane replied with a sigh as she resigned herself to watch his fate.

"Now let's see that bruise," said Dr. Tofu as he led Ranma to sit down on a chair. Ranma peeled off the bandage and allowed Dr. Tofu to get a close look. "Hmm, the impression of that baseball...Akane hit it, right?"

"Huh, how did..." Ranma stuttered as Akane's eyes went wide in surprise and disbelief.

"With an impression that big, a bruise that deep, who else?" joked Dr. Tofu.

"Man, she's so strong, even the balls she hits have their own identifying features," commented an impressed Ranma.

"Well, it was your fault for not paying attention," Akane shot back in a huff, only to receive a raspberry from Ranma in reply.

"You mean Akane did hit that ball? I was...I was just joking," revealed an embarrassed Dr. Tofu. "But so what, eh? What's wrong with being active? It just means you're healthy," he concluded, trying to cheer Akane up but unknowingly saying the wrong things instead.

Ranma felt heavy sympathy for Akane with the dejected look she had on her face, as Dr. Tofu turned his attention to his bruise. "Hold still now. I have to apply this disinfectant," said the doctor as he held onto Ranma's face. All of a sudden, a feminine voice called out, "Good afternoon, doctor," and Ranma's concern immediately switched from Akane's broken heart to his own broken neck as he suddenly found himself in severe pain. To his credit, he managed to hold in his cries of pain down to a simple grunt. Akane looked at him in concern, as his head was bent at what was certainly an unnatural angle. "I tried to warn you," she told him.

"H-hello, Kasumi," Dr. Tofu nervously stammered as his glasses fogged up. Things only went downhill from there, as Dr. Tofu proceeded to mistake Nodoka for Ranma, twice mistake the purpose of Kasumi's plate of cookies, twist Ranma's head just as badly in the other direction, and mistake his skeleton of all things for Nodoka. Strangely, Kasumi simply rationalized this bout of temporary insanity as Dr. Tofu being "amusing."

Akane couldn't bear to watch anymore. She put on a brave smile and politely said goodbye. Ranma followed close behind and found himself pushing through a small crowd of patients waiting outside the door for the doctor's latest bout of "Kasumi-itis" to pass, before he could chase her down.

* * *

Once Ranma made it home, he questioned Nabiki as to Akane's whereabouts, unsurprised at the answer. As he approached the dojo, he heard the familiar sound of cinder blocks being broken, which he already knew from experience was Akane's favorite method of relieving stress. He saw her depressed form, dressed in her gi, slowly walk over and lean against the boundary wall of the compound.

Ranma approached her from behind, intent on cheering her up. He tapped her on the shoulder, and started to speak. "Um, Akane," was all he could get out before she whipped around and jammed her knee into his groin with a shout. He let out a massive groan as he backpedaled away from her in severe pain. As quickly as he could, he staggered over to the front yard and jumped into the koi pond, feeling immediate relief as most of the pain disappeared along with his abused male anatomy.

Akane's face winced in sympathy when she saw who she had attacked. "I'm so sorry, Ranma!" she apologized as she ran over and helped her out of the pond. She then began to laugh at the sight of a panting and soaking wet girl-type Ranma with her neck still bent at an extreme angle. Ranma growled at how Akane apparently found amusement in her suffering. "I'm sorry, Ranma, but you just look so funny like that," Akane explained when her laughter wound down. "Here, let me help you with your neck. It's going to hurt, though." Ranma sat down and allowed Akane to put one hand under his currently lower cheek and the other on his opposite shoulder. She braced herself for the expected pain and wasn't denied as Akane used her great strength to pull her neck back into realignment. Once done, however, Ranma felt the soreness in her neck finally begin to recede, although she now had a newly bruised shoulder to deal with.

"Thanks, Akane," said an appreciative Ranma as she rolled her head around to get the kinks out of her neck. "Although, I apparently need to train you in situational awareness. At least this curse is useful for something, although I'm going to have to stay like this all evening before I'll feel safe turning back. Do you normally maim your friends when they try to cheer you up?"

"You were trying to cheer me up?" asked Akane rhetorically. At the reminder of what had happened at the clinic, Akane felt the sadness begin to return, but she felt a lot better than she had with the thought that Ranma had cared enough to help. She rewarded him with a big smile.

Ranma felt her body heat up and her heart beat faster at the sight of the smile on Akane's beautiful face and realized that her male body would probably be having an erection right now. "Yeah, um, of course," she stammered, embarrassed at how flustered she was. "I-I don't like to see m-my friends get hurt, even if it was unintentional. Don't beat yourself up about it. The doc's just not the right guy for you. He's better off with a girly-girl like Kasumi rather than a tomboy who would beat him up if he got out of line."

"What was that?!" growled Akane, certain there was an insult somewhere in there.

"Whoa, whoa! I didn't mean anything bad by it," replied Ranma as she attempted to remove her foot from her mouth. "I've told you before. There's nothing wrong with being a tomboy." She blushed as she added, "Personally, I l-l-like tomboys." Akane blushed as well when she heard this.

"Ranma, do you have a moment?" she calmly asked, finally released from the sadness in her heart.

"Huh?" replied a confused Ranma.

Akane led Ranma into the dojo, where they cleaned up the broken cinder blocks and began to spar, Ranma once again using the water pistols. "You know," commented Ranma as they fought, "Dr. Tofu is much too old for you, anyway. You said he's been treating you since you were little, right? He's gotta be at least 30 years old! He's robbing the cradle as it is with Kasumi."

Akane giggled. "I guess I never thought about it like that before."

Feeling encouraged, Ranma decided to take a risk. "You know, there are guys out there that are better for you than Dr. Tofu, g-guys that are close in age, for one thing."

"You really think there's a guy out there for me?" asked Akane hopefully.

"Out there, in here," Ranma nervously clarified.

"Oh, really?" Akane replied, making the connection, despite the fact that there technically weren't any "guys" in the dojo at the moment.

"Sure," confirmed Ranma. "Y'know, you're really cute when you smile."

Akane froze at the unexpected compliment as her heart began to pound. "Blew it," teased Ranma as she took advantage of the distraction to push Akane to the ground with a fingertip to her forehead.

"That," began Akane, who was still a little flustered but quickly recovered. "That was dirty! That didn't count!" she complained

"Hey, the school is called 'Anything-Goes' for a reason," Ranma pointed out.

"Well, in that case," Akane replied mischievously as she stood up, "take a look at this." She pulled off her belt and opened her gi top, completely revealing her chest with nothing but her bra in the way, while at the same time giving Ranma one of the really cute smiles she had just complimented.

Having been "flashed" by Akane in two different ways at the same time, Ranma could do nothing but stand there frozen in shock, completely defenseless against Akane's jump kick that sent her flying across the dojo. "Don't forget that I'm an Anything-Goes martial artist, too," Akane called out as she retied her belt and walked back to the house.

* * *

Later that evening, Akane entered her room after her evening bath wearing pajamas and slippers with her long hair braided into an elaborate bun. She thought about the compliment Ranma had given her earlier as she lay back on her bed. 'Did he mean that?' she thought as she walked to her desk and grabbed a small mirror. She practiced smiling into it to see for herself.

Suddenly, her window was open, and Ranma was standing there, back in male form. "Do mirrors always make you smile?" he teased.

Embarrassed, Akane let out a squeal of surprise and quickly dropped the mirror back onto her desk. "R-Ranma, what are you doing here?" she asked with a blush. "I see you've changed back. Is your, you know, groin okay? I'm really sorry about that, you know."

"Yeah, I'm a fast healer, even when the injury is in some kind of magical limbo," Ranma reassured her. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I really meant what I said about your smiles being cute. I wasn't just saying that to distract you. It's really a shame that you give yourself into anger so easily."

"Well, it's good to know that I have at least one friend who can help me with my temper," Akane replied. She smiled at him once again in appreciation.

Ranma was at a loss for words and could only fiddle with his pigtail and smile back until he resumed control of his motor functions and leapt back to his own bedroom window.

'It's been less than two weeks, yet Ranma has already proven himself to be one of the best friends I've ever had. I really need to do something special for him,' thought Akane as she closed the window.

* * *

Over the next month, Ranma and Akane continued to grow closer. Akane was easily Ranma's best friend, while Akane hung out with Ranma just as much as she did with Yuka and Sayuri. A couple of times she and Kasumi even dragged Ranma out in girl form for a "girls' day out," although they made sure to include some activities that Ranma would enjoy.

They fought and argued on occasion, but they always made up quickly and didn't let any bad feelings linger. They both recognized by now that they did have some romantic feelings for each other and suspected that the feelings were mutual, but between the engagement hanging over their heads and worries over what it could do to what they both considered a very important friendship, they were both too scared to do anything about it. It wasn't hard for their classmates to pick up on the sexual tension, which resulted in lots of good-natured teasing and the occasional perverted comment.

By now Ranma also counted Kasumi among his growing list of friends, although she was more of a big sister than a buddy. She was always there to listen and give advice when he felt uncomfortable talking to Akane, particularly when the topic _was_ Akane. Nabiki was still as cold as ever, though, and he especially despised how she would blackmail him and continue to sell pictures of both Akane and his girl form. He tried to avoid her whenever possible, as any interaction he was forced to have her usually resulted in a lighter wallet. At school, Hiroshi and Daisuke had managed to grow on him. They were pretty good guys when they weren't being perverts, although to their credit they had refused to take part in the group assaults on Akane. He hung out with them every now and then, although he preferred Akane's company and not just because he had the hots for her.

So far, Ranma had managed to keep his curse a secret. The few times he had been accidentally splashed at school, there were no witnesses (outside of Akane), and she managed to change back without much difficulty except for the one time she had run into Kuno and was forced to knock him out. He hoped his luck would continue for a while longer but accepted that things were going well enough that his secret could be safely revealed if necessary.

As the calendar moved into the latter half of May, Ranma was excited about his upcoming 16th birthday and the small party his mother and the Tendos would be throwing him. As far as he could remember, he had never had a real birthday party before. He had no memories of his life before the training trip. While on the road with his father, Genma would always make an attempt to celebrate his birthday, but it was more along the lines of a quick "Happy birthday, boy," a day off from training, and a gift of extra food. Once reunited with his mother, she made every attempt to celebrate the day properly, but when she was the only one who cared, there was a harsh limit to the excitement to be had. This year, he would also be celebrating with the entire Tendo family as well as Hiroshi, Daisuke, and Dr. Tofu. In addition, his mother had agreed to let his father come as well as resume his weekend visits. Nodoka had spent several minutes warning the Tendos about what they could expect from Genma but still worried that her ex-husband would cause some kind of major altercation before long.

* * *

Finally, the morning of May 19th arrived. School was mostly the same, although he was occasionally wished a happy birthday and was happy to discover that his mother had packed an extra dessert in his lunch. When he got home, he found Kasumi in full house-cleaning-mode in preparation for the evening's festivities. He and Akane had both offered to help, but Kasumi wouldn't accept Ranma's help, while Akane was allowed to help clean the tea room and the bathroom but for some strange reason was banned from the kitchen for the afternoon.

A little while later Genma showed up, and after a quick birthday greeting to Ranma and introductions to the Tendo daughters, none of whom walked away with a good first impression of the man, he proceeded to catch up with Soun out in the yard until they decided to break out the shogi board. Shortly before dinner time, Nodoka arrived home with Dr. Tofu (having come straight from work), while Hiroshi and Daisuke both made their appearances, as well.

Dinner for ten was served, consisting of Ranma's favorite dishes. When everyone was full and the table had been cleared, Kasumi brought out a large cake that she had baked that afternoon along with a large jug of milk. Once everyone had been served their cake, Ranma was allowed to start opening his presents, which were placed in a pile in the middle of the table.

From his father, he received a dogged-eared used copy of a Jackie Chan biography that was several years out of date. His mother had warned him not to allow full view of her present (meaning Hiroshi and Daisuke), as it was for going out as his "fairer side" (to Genma's disgust and Hiroshi's and Daisuke's confusion). Carefully opening the box from the side facing him, he sighed in defeat at the cute sun dress that lay within. Soun gave him a book called "Guide to a Successful Marriage," which elicited a cry of "Daaaad!" from Akane. Hiroshi's and Daisuke's presents were even worse, as they consisted of a box of condoms and a pair of fur-covered handcuffs with key. Dr. Tofu gifted him with some charts of pressure points useful to martial artists. Kasumi offered him VHS tapes of the "Star Wars" trilogy (the "Ranma ½" manga was first written in 1987 after all, so no DVDs or the prequel trilogy), claiming that he should be able to relate to Han Solo, particularly what _not_ to say or do when dealing with girls. Nabiki _generously_ gave him coupons for "10% off one blackmail fee" and "buy one, get one free piece of information," as well as a couple of photos of Akane (to Akane's disgust, although Ranma slipped the photos into his pocket when she wasn't looking).

Finally, only Akane's present was left, which she had insisted on saving for last. When he opened the box, he couldn't keep the tears from his eyes from the joy he felt from this simple gift. It was a sweatband, similar to the one Akane always wore. However, this one was red with yellow horizontal stripes to complement Akane's yellow one with red stripes. Yellow material was also used to write out the hiragana for Ranma's and Akane's names listed on top of each other, followed by the kanji for "Friends Forever." Akane explained how she had ordered the custom gift a month ago after he cheered her up following their disastrous visit to Dr. Tofu (although she worded it a way that kept secret the reason she had been so depressed).

Ranma was speechless at the symbolism behind the gift. For someone who had gone nearly ten years without any real friends, this meant more to him than a hundred martial arts techniques. When Ranma finally regained his voice, he simply replied, "Thank you, Akane. This is seriously the best gift I've ever received." Akane herself was beaming with happiness at the heartfelt joy and gratitude her gift had bestowed in Ranma. 'Don't worry, Ranma. You'll never be alone again.'

* * *

A few days later, Ranma asked Akane to join him in his room. Once they were alone, Ranma cleared his throat. "Um, Akane, uh, I just wanted to say..."

"Yes, Ranma?" Akane curiously urged him after a long pause.

"Well, uh yes, you see, um, you gave me such a wonderful birthday present, and I feel bad that I didn't get you anything for your birthday," Ranma finally spat out.

"Ranma, it's okay. You didn't know. It's my fault for not telling you my birthday is April 14th until that day," Akane pointed out.

"Still, I want you to have this," Ranma said, pulling a small box from underneath his pillow and handing it to her."

Akane opened the box and gasped when she discovered a silver necklace ending in a yin-yang pendant. On the back of the pendant was inscribed the same message as on Ranma's sweatband. "Ranma, it's perfect!" she exclaimed. "Here, help me put it on."

"We can get the size adjusted if necessary. I went to the jewelry store as a girl and used myself as a model to determine the size," Ranma explained as he connected the two ends around the back of her neck. It wasn't necessary, though, as the pendant fell perfectly to just shortly above Akane's cleavage.

"Thank you so much, Ranma!" she said happily as she gave him a big hug. She considered standing on her tiptoes and kissing him, but she chickened out. 'Maybe next time,' she thought. 'For now, I'm just glad we're friends.'

* * *

**Author's Notes**: I'm so, so sorry that it's taken me so long to update any of my stories. I've just been so addicted to reading through old Ranma/Akane romance fics (as well as reading new chapters of many current fics), that I just keep putting it off. The good news is that my writing pace should now improve quite a bit.

While the month gap in the middle of this chapter may seem off-putting, keep in mind once again that Ranma came early in this AU. This necessitated such a gap to bridge these early chapters to upcoming events, plus it worked pretty well with what I had planned for this chapter.

Birthdays: At the beginning of the manga, Akane is already 16, while Nabiki and Kuno are already 17, meaning their birthdays are sometime between the beginning of the Japanese school year on April 1st and whenever Ranma and Genma showed up. While Ranma isn't explicitly stated to be 16 until the Age Mushroom Arc, this is commonly assumed to be the case for him as well. I'm basing these birthdays off an estimate of early June for the Saotomes' arrival in the manga, so their birthdays need to be before then. (Chapter 1 has been slightly modified to reflect this.) I chose Ranma's and Akane's birthdays pretty much at random around where the plot of this chapter was needing them to be. I've decided that April 1st, the first day of school, is a good choice for Kuno's birthday, considering what that day represents in the United States. (;^P) As for Nabiki's birthday, I couldn't care less when it is. In the context of this story, it just means that it happened some time in the two month block, but Ranma didn't really care and only put about as much thought into her gift as she did for his.

Fanon claims that Ranma's shirts are made of silk, but that really doesn't makes sense for the reasons pointed out in this chapter. I'll continue to poke fun at some of the more ridiculous fanon clichés and misconceptions on occasion.

I originally wanted to have Kasumi give Ranma the first few volumes of the Inuyasha manga, but I decided it didn't make sense seeing as Rumiko Takahashi wrote Inuyasha after she wrote Ranma ½.

Give yourself some bonus points if you figured out this chapter title is paraphrasing a line from "The Princess Bride" or if you caught my "Kim Possible" reference in this chapter. The points mean absolutely nothing, just like in "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" but it's still fun to play.

By the way, I've made myself a profile, so go check it out if you're interested.


	5. Ch 4: This Little Piggy Went Kwee Kwee

**Chapter 4: This Little Piggy Went "Kwee Kwee Kwee"**

**Note: **An advance warning to any Ryoga fans out there: things do not go well for him in this chapter.

* * *

A week after Ranma gave Akane her necklace, a small town elsewhere in Japan was having trouble with the local wildlife.

"A wild boar! On a rampage!" shouted out distressed villagers as said animal proceeded to cause heavy property damage throughout the town. It spied a young man wearing a backpack and an umbrella and charged straight towards him. The young man, however, just continued walking, apparently unaware of the sudden danger. The villagers tried to warn him by shouting out, "Look out! Run, y'dang fool!," but he either wouldn't or couldn't do as they suggested.

Casually, he just turned around and extended his umbrella with one arm. Amazingly, the boar was forced to a halt as it collided snout first with the umbrella. With a single swift motion, the young man sent the boar flying merely by raising his umbrella, raising the question as to how such a maneuver was physically possible with such minimal leverage. He placed the umbrella back in position behind his shoulders as the boar fell to the ground behind him, completely knocked out.

The villagers gathered around their savior and began pestering him with questions. The young man's only response was to show them a map and ask, "Where is Furinkan High School?" Surprised that the map was of the Nerima Ward of Tokyo, the villagers informed the lost traveler that his destination was 500 miles to the north. The young man apologized and continued on his quest. 'Ranma Saotome! Prepare to meet me! You can run from our man-to-man battle no longer!'

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Nerima, Tokyo, the second "man" of the proposed duel had just been asked to do something that no "man" should ever have to do:_

"Ranma, wait!" shouted Kasumi as she and Nabiki chased down girl-type Ranma, who was currently dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers and a towel.

"No! No way!" Ranma shouted as she ran in an attempt to save herself from a terrible fate. Unfortunately for her, she soon found herself cornered by the two older Tendo sisters. "I'm not wearing girls' clothes!" she complained desperately.

"But all _your _clothes are in the wash," explained Kasumi. "Let me fill your bath now, so-"

"You can't just run around naked, you know!" interrupted Nabiki.

"But-" Ranma tried only to be immediately interrupted in stereo with the guilt inducing rhetorical question, "You're a guest here, aren't you?" Ranma had no choice but to surrender. "Note to self: buy more clothes," she grumbled under her breath as she followed the two girls to Akane's room.

* * *

"I understand, but why do you have to loan him my clothes?" complained Akane as her sisters rifled through her closet, while Ranma sat on the floor reminding them that she refused to wear a skirt. "For that matter, why not turn him back into a guy and use some of Dad's clothes?" Kasumi and Nabiki started whistling casually hoping Ranma hadn't heard that much more logical solution, which would've ruined all their fun, especially since Kasumi had gone out of her way to put off the laundry until Ranma was out of clean clothes.

"Okay, this'll do," commented Nabiki as she found the _perfect_ outfit for Ranma.

One off-panel change later and Ranma was dressed in a plain long-sleeved blouse covered by a cute pair of overalls with the word "China" written in Roman letters across the chest and one of the legs. The jots of the "i"s were even shaped like little hearts! "Oooh! It is _you_!" teased Nabiki with a smile.

"It's..it's perfect," said Akane, shocked at how well her clothes fit Ranma's girl form."

"It doesn't fit. The chest is too tight," complained a naive Ranma. Akane began growling at what she perceived to be an implied insult against her figure.

"Really? How's the waist?" asked Nabiki in an attempt to get Ranma to dig herself deeper.

Ranma was about to answer the question in her usual tactless honesty when she spotted Akane grabbing her shinai out of the corner of her eye and managed to put two and two together to get four, although she did have to use exponentials before it clicked. "Um, the waist is perfect, absolutely perfect," she replied, watching nervously with an animé sweat drop on her forehead until Akane calmed down and put her sword away. 'Phew! Thanks, Mom. Your lessons on tact saved me from a beating there.'

* * *

_One week later:_

"Where is Furinkan High School?" asked the same young man from the opening scene of this chapter as he handed his map to a farmer.

"If it's Tokyo, it's 500 miles south of here," was the reply, despite the fact that Japan uses the metric system, meaning Viz Media probably took an unnecessary liberty with the English translation at this point.

"D'oh!" shouted the frustrated young man, who had caught an episode of an American animated sitcom in an electronics store window the other day.

* * *

_One more week later:_

As yet unknown to him, the young man now stood at the entrance of his target destination. He thought that this would be a good place to get directions, so he grabbed the first guy he saw and once again asked, "Where's Furinkan High School?"

"Say what?" asked a confused Hiroshi, who had been unlucky enough to be the one grabbed. He pointed out the sign with the school name of which they happened to be standing in front, and the embarrassed young man let him go.

However, the young man still had one more question to ask now that he had finally found the darn place. "Where is Ranma Saotome?"

Before Hiroshi could respond, a pigtailed boy appeared, running and leaping through the air as he was chased by a giggling girl. "Ranma, stop!" the girl called out. "Come and get me!" he teased as he stuck out his tongue. That was proof enough of his target's identity, and the young man jumped into attack mode.

As Ranma was in midair, his danger sense suddenly kicked in, and he looked up to see an angry young man descending upon him with a downward thrust from his umbrella while shouting "Ranma, prepare to die!" Quickly, Ranma twisted around to land on his fingertips to push himself away just before the umbrella hit the ground and opened up a small crater.

"An umbrella, seriously?" deadpanned Akane as she joined Ranma. "Who does this guy think he is, a Japanese version of the Penguin?"

"You haven't changed, Ranma," his attacker called out. "You're still good at running away."

"Someone you know?" asked Akane curiously. Ranma thought about it. The boy seemed familiar, but he couldn't place him in his memories. "Don't strain your brain remembering, Ranma," teased Akane as the pause became awkwardly long.

"Just tell me one think, Ranma," the boy added, "Why did you run out on our fight?!"

"Wait, I remember!" exclaimed Ranma and he pounded his fist in his palm. "You were in my class in elementary school..."

"...Ryoga Hibiki," the boy finished as he finally introduced himself. "Long time no see. Answer the question!"

"I waited three days at the appointed place," Ranma pointed out to the shock of Akane and all the other watching students.

"Yes, and when I came on the fourth day, you had already run away," Ryoga argued as if it were a perfectly reasonable excuse.

"Uh, Ryoga, can I ask you something?" Ranma replied in a sarcastic tone. "You lived only about half a kilometer down the road from the empty lot where we agreed to fight, so _why_ did it take you four days to get there?"

"Do you think I was out for a casual stroll for four days?!" Ryoga snapped back. "I suffered to meet up with you!" Thus was revealed the running gag of Ryoga's inhumanly bad sense of direction, unrivaled throughout the manga multiverse (although Zoro in "One Piece" comes pretty close). "You broke a vow between men and ran off to China with your father!" Ryoga finished as he took a swipe at Ranma with his umbrella.

"In other words, you want to finish our fight?" asked Ranma as he casually landed after easily jumping over the attack.

"Finish our fight? How feeble!" replied Ryoga as he opened the umbrella. "This is revenge!"

Ryoga threw his umbrella in a spiraling arc that was easily dodged as Ranma leaned to the side. It then curved back around and flew back into Ryoga's outstretched hand like some kind of demented boomerang.

"No matter what it takes, Ranma," Ryoga declared, "I shall destroy your happiness!"

Without thinking, Ranma immediately stepped in front of the girl at his side and shouted, "Don't you dare lay a hand on Akane!"

Akane blushed and several students started whispering among themselves about how Ranma had just equated Akane with his happiness. Ranma's facial expression shifted from serious to embarrassed as he himself realized what he had just accidentally blurted out.

* * *

Somehow, Ranma managed to avoid Ryoga until he once again became lost. As Ryoga traveled through the woods trying to make his way back to Nerima once again, he thought, 'Ranma, I shall have my revenge. _You_ did this to my life. _You_ made it a disaster. I will shove this umbrella down your throat and then _open_ it. You time has come, Ranma.

* * *

"Well, Ranma, just what did you _do_ to this Ryoga?" asked Akane later that evening.

"Believe me. I wish I knew," replied Ranma, who was in female form after a quick afternoon rain shower.

Just then, Kasumi approached the pair holding a kettle and a letter. "Ranma, there's a letter for you," she informed him in her usual calm manner. "From a boy named 'Ryoga Hibiki.'"

Ranma opened the letter to find the single word 'challenge' written across the top of the paper. She growled in frustration.

"You must have done something," pointed out Akane. "This is more than your everyday annoyance." Suddenly, a metaphoric lightbulb appeared over Ranma's head as she smacked her palm into her fist. "I knew it!" exclaimed Akane. "He remembers something?" asked a curious Nabiki, suddenly joining in the conversation.

"Yesss, it was the start of a new semester," Ranma began as a wavy transition effect and a quick musical jingle sent the scene into flashback mode. She described a scene of lunchtime madness where Ranma beat Ryoga to the last curry bread of the day. "He was crying tears of bitterness! Lunchtime was always a war. After all, it was a boys' school."

"Boys' school!" exclaimed the three shocked Tendo sisters in unison, as they listened to the storyteller with a bigger chest than any of them except possibly Kasumi.

"This was while I was still on my training trip with Pop. Back then I was _always_ a boy, 365 days a year, 366 during leap years!" Ranma explained. Kasumi decided she'd better turn Ranma back to his birth gender now and did so with the kettle she still carried.

"That idiotic panda actually sent you to school?" questioned Akane.

"Well, it was only once in a while and for just a few months at a time at most," replied Ranma. "I think he just wanted to keep truancy officials off his back. He had enough trouble with the law as it was."

"Anyway, it's amazing that Ryoga's so angry with you just for taking some _bread_," Akane commented, getting back to the main discussion.

"'Amazing isn't the word," grumbled Ranma, "but there was nothing else...Wait!" Ranma snapped his fingers in epiphany. He then described how he had also beaten Ryoga to chow mein bread, croquette bread, melon bread, a cutlet sandwich, meat bread, seaweed bread, and...

"It sounds like a lot of straws on one camel's back," Kasumi summed up nicely.

"Uh, Ranma? The date of your showdown was yesterday," pointed out Akane as she read the full challenge letter.

"No problem," replied Ranma calmly. "That guy's got the world's worst sense of direction. Right now he's probably asking some poor guy about directions to Tokyo and completely misinterpreting their answer. Many kilometers away, Ryoga sneezed while doing exactly that.

* * *

_One week later:_

Ranma stood across from Ryoga on the soccer field after school. Many other students, including Akane of course, gathered to watch as word spread that "Saotome [was] having a showdown."

Finally, Ryoga broke the silence. "So Ranma, you finally had the guts to show up."

Hoping to appease his rival, Ranma tried the diplomatic approach. "Listen Ryoga, I didn't come to fight, okay? Just take this!" He tossed Ryoga a small bag of curry bread in an attempt to make things right. However, Ryoga didn't care and seemed to get even madder each time Ranma tossed him an additional bread bag. "This _is _a bread-feud isn't it?" asked a confused Ranma.

"You think a bread-eating contest will avenge my _honor_?!" shouted an enraged Ryoga. "Besides, these are all past the 'sell by' date."

"Well, _you_ kept me waiting a week," argued Ranma.

"Enough chatter! I attack!" declared Ryoga. He rushed forward and jabbed several times with his umbrella. Having already fought and defeated Kuno, Ranma easily leapt back out of range.

As Ranma and Ryoga took to the air, Ranma tried once more to placate his opponent. "Wait a minute! What's this about?"

"Thanks to _you_, I have seen h***!" accused Ryoga as he tried an angled downward thrust that Ranma flipped over in mid-air.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ranma as they both landed on the ground.

"Do you think that mere words can convey the depths of my _suffering_?!" complained Ryoga as he opened his umbrella. His used the same boomerang trick from last time, which Ranma easily dodged thinking that such a slow and uncontrolled attack that also disarmed its user was pretty pathetic, but the umbrella throw was only a distraction as Ryoga took off his bandana (revealing a second one on his head) and used it to trap Ranma's right wrist in close to his own right hand. "This'll keep you from running away!" he sneered.

"Tell me something: how many bandanas are you _wearing_?" asked Ranma sarcastically as he attempted a high kick only to be blocked by the same move from Ryoga.

"You won't make light of this, Saotome!" replied Ryoga, not in the mood for light-hearted banter.

As Ranma and Ryoga continued their fight, Ryoga's umbrella twirled to the ground, causing a few students to scatter out of the way. As Akane watched in worry for Ranma's safety, she noticed one of the boys struggling just to lift Ryoga's umbrella off the ground. "What's the matter?"she asked as she walked over. "This thing weighs a ton!" the boy complained.

Akane tried to lift it herself and only managed to lift half of it from the ground. Frowning, Akane took a better grip and stance and a deep breath, focused her ki as Ranma had taught her, and slowly hefted the weighted unconventional weapon in front of her. The boy's eyeballs nearly shot out of his head at this feat of strength. 'No wonder we could never beat her!'

Akane was shocked as she realized that Ryoga could easily swing the thing around with just one hand. 'This is no even match.' "Ranma, don't stay in close with him!" she warned. "Stay out of his reach! He has the strength of a monster," she hypocritically stated.

"Heh, looks like you found out a little too late!" Ryoga smirked as he finally landed a blow on Ranma's midsection. This left Ranma open for additional hits, each one feeling like a blow from a sledgehammer.

Akane looked on in horror at the beating Ranma was taking. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. 'I know this is Ranma's fight, but I can't just stand by while Ryoga beats the c*** out of my friend. Ranma helped me against the Hentai Horde, and now I'm going to help him!'

Akane charged forward with the umbrella on her shoulder. Ryoga sensed the oncoming danger and turned just in time to get the second biggest shock of his life (the first being rather obvious to those readers who already know Ryoga's backstory) as this little slip of a girl slammed his own specialized lead umbrella right into his face. He was forced to release Ranma as he was sent flying over the chain-link fence at the edge of the field.

"Are you alright?" Akane asked as she helped Ranma to his feet.

"I'm okay. Just a few bruised ribs. Thanks, Akane," panted Ranma as he examined the large tear Ryoga had made in his shirt. "Unfortunately, I don't think I can take him on my own. I probably could if my training hadn't been interrupted, but you know how I feel about that. However, if we work together, I think we can win."

"Right, together," Akane agreed. The two martial artists jumped to the top of the fence to continue the fight.

Ryoga landed on an outdoor set of water faucets and shook his head to clear the ringing from his ears. That had _really hurt!_ The d*** b**** had nearly busted his nose with that blow! Who the heck was that girl?

He didn't have to wait long to find out as both Ranma and the girl (still holding his umbrella) appeared at the top of the fence. Ryoga was even more impressed as he realized she was able to leap the fence while still carrying the thing. "Who the h*** are you, and why are you interfering in a man-to-man fight?" he snarled.

"What man-to-man fight?!" the girl snapped back. "You come around here and start beating on my friend without even telling us why, then I'm gonna defend him. And who says you have to be a man to fight, anyway?!"

"Ryoga Hibiki, meet Akane Tendo," Ranma introduced with a grin, "my hot-headed best friend and personal student in the Art. As you can see, she's stronger than she looks."

'That's an understatement,' thought Ryoga sarcastically. He turned back to Ranma. "I remember now. She was with you the first time I came here. Ranma, have you really fallen so low that you need to be rescued by a girl? You're acting like a girl yourself!"

Ranma saw red as Ryoga unintentionally picked at his biggest sore spot. "Who're you calling a _girl_?!" Ranma shouted in rage as he aimed a jumping drop-kick at Ryoga. Unfortunately, when Ryoga dodged, Ranma bust open the fountain with his attack, spraying water everywhere. Ryoga managed to jump back to the fence and quickly wrestle his umbrella back and open it to block the spray of water from hitting both him and Akane, but Ranma wasn't so lucky.

Of course, Ryoga had once again left himself wide open to Akane and paid for his mistake with a haymaker to the jaw that knocked him to the ground, although he had managed to hold on to his umbrella. 'D*** it! How does she hit so hard?' he wondered as he massaged his bruised facial joint.

He didn't have time to dwell on the matter as he was forced to avoid Ranma's follow-up attack from above. He created some distance between himself and his two opponents and then looked up to suffer the third biggest shock of his life. Ranma had transformed into a smaller red-head that had certain attributes, especially the ones poking through the torn shirt, that could only mean...

Ranma took advantage of his distraction to knock him back with a high kick, but Ryoga just continued to stare in disbelief. "Ra-ra-ranma?"

"Who do I _look_ like, you blind, stupid jerk," _she_ shot back in a soprano voice.

"Ranma, your torso!" Akane warned. Ranma looked down at the indicated area and covered her chest in embarrassment. "You didn't know you'd gone female again?" Akane rhetorically asked in disbelief.

"Ranma, you..you..." Ryoga stuttered.

"Well, why don't you laugh, huh? Huh?" Ranma said in despair. "Listen, I don't know what I could've done to make you so bitter, Ryoga, but look at _me – _cursed with this body! Yet _I _take it in stride and treat others with kindness!"

Ranma didn't know what kind of reaction Ryoga would have, but she certainly didn't expect Ryoga to start _laughing_! "It is to laugh!" Ryoga remarked. "_That_, you call a _curse_?!" He pulled four bandanas from his forehead and began whirling them around. "Whining about your misery with such an adorable figure? It is to jest!" Ryoga leapt into the air and let the bandanas fly.

Just then, some of the other students started arriving from going the long way around after witnessing the water spout. They had to duck for cover as a couple near misses proved that the bandanas had somehow turned into razor blades!

With the blades whirling around them, Akane tried to make a break for it to get Ranma some hot water.

Ranma tried to stop her, but she foolishly ran out into no-man's (or no-woman's) land. Luckily, she tripped on a tree root, which saved her life when one of the makeshift blades passed overhead and slashed open part of the skirt on her dress.

Ryoga had now gone too far as far as Ranma was concerned! "You idiot! You could've killed her!" she shouted as she ran to Akane's side to protect her from further harm.

Ryoga didn't care, as he was simply focused on winning the fight. "An opening!" he shouted in triumph as he hurled his umbrella like a spear at the two girls. "It's over! Even if you dodge my umbrella, my bandanas will strike you from every direction!" he declared as he followed up with four more of the cloth blades.

Ranma didn't panic as she flawlessly kicked the point of the umbrella skyward. Together, Ranma and Akane grabbed the handle of the umbrella and opened it to deflect the bandanas as they leapt through the air. On the ground, the other students were wondering who this new girl was while at the same time impressed at the move the two girls had pulled off with the extremely heavy umbrella.

"Running away, coward?!" Ryoga complained as Ranma and Akane landed on the ground then leapt to a tree branch and used the open umbrella to land gently on the roof of a bicycle shed. "Hold your horses!" Ranma replied.

Upon landing on the bike shed, Ranma and Akane embraced each other in relief at getting out of that tight spot until they realized what they were doing and quickly backed away from each other with blushing faces. 'That was so...nice,' thought Akane. 'Even as a girl, he makes me feel safe by holding me like that. Although, I'm not about to let _him_ know that.'

"Hey, quit huggin' your girlfriend and get back down here!" Ryoga shouted as he removed his belt. Luckily, the gathered students assumed he was referring to the other definition of "girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Ranma reflexively replied. Akane looked down with a hurt look on her face. 'No, I'm not his girlfriend, but I thought...maybe we...I suppose he doesn't feel that way about me if he's denying it so strongly.' "Is that it, Ranma?" she choked out. "You like me as a friend, but I'm not girlfriend material? I suppose I'm just an uncute tomboy or something."

Ranma looked at her in shock. He hadn't meant it that way! 'Stupid foot-in-mouth disease! Uncute tomboy?! Where did that come from? Is 'uncute' even a real word? How could she think that about herself?!'

Ryoga took advantage of the distraction by snapping out his belt into some kind of rigid sword. With two quick strokes, he sliced through one of the support bars of the shed, causing it to collapse.

Ranma leapt for safety with one arm around Akane and the other still holding the umbrella. Suddenly, Ryoga was above them and snapping out the belt like a whip in a move that would make Indiana Jones proud. Ranma blocked with the umbrella, which was snapped in two by the wrapped belt in another display of Ryoga's superhuman strength.

"Let me go!" a still upset Akane shouted while she and Ranma were still in mid-air. "Akane, now is not the time for this," Ranma complained as they landed among the wreckage. She let Akane down to her feet then turned her back. "If you're going to whine, then fine, I don't need your help. I can beat Ryoga on my own," Ranma declared.

Akane realized the argument was going too far and tried to get Ranma's head back on the fight. "Ranma, I..." she began softly.

Ryoga, however, decided to take advantage of Ranma's unguarded position. "Ignore me, will you?!" he shouted as he cracked forth his belt whip at the redhead as if it were Ivy's chain sword from the "Soul Calibur" video game series or Jakotsu's snake sword from "Inuyasha."

"LOOK OUT!" Akane cried out as she sensed the attack and tackled Ranma to the ground. Akane sighed in relief as Ranma was unhurt but soon realized that the attack hadn't completely missed: Ranma's hair was unbound over her neck, and half of her signature pigtail was lying nearby on the ground, still tied together with a piece of string. Akane gasped. "Oh, Ranma, I'm so sorry," was all she could say.

Ranma saw the remains of her pigtail on the ground and went into shock at how close she had come to death. The other girls watching the fight mistook it for something else, however. "Poor girl!" one of them called out. "Caught in public with a haircut like _that_! She's lucky she didn't _die_!" Akane sweatdropped at this declaration.

"Who are you, anyway?" one girl asked. "I've been wondering that, too," said Hiroshi. "And where'd Ranma go?" asked Daisuke.

Akane sweatdropped again. "Heh...Wait a minute! Who cares?!" she shouted as she began getting angry. "What matters is..."

"Feh, she didn't get any injury, did she?" Ryoga interrupted.

"No, but she sure got a _bad cut_!" Akane pointed out. There was sudden silence as a loose sheet of paper blew by in the absence of any tumbleweed in Japan.

"More importantly," Akane finally continued, "this _butcher_ nearly decapitated her with that dangerous stunt! What kind of martial artist _does_ something like that?!" she yelled pointing at Ryoga. "I oughta break every bone in your body!" Akane marched towards Ryoga, barely maintaining control over her anger thanks to Ranma's training.

Ryoga started backing away in fear from the very angry and _very_ dangerous girl advancing on him. "C'mon now, I wasn't really trying to kill her," he argued. "'Prepare to die' is just an expression."

"It didn't look that way to me," snarled Akane.

"Ranma, you know I wasn't seriously trying to kill you, right? Call her off! I can't fight a girl when my life isn't at risk!" Ryoga tried in desperation.

"You should've thought of that before you started attacking wildly with edged weapons," Ranma answered in a cold voice, whose thoughts echoed Akane's. "Take him down, Akane."

"With pleasure, sensei," Akane replied with a predatory grin on her face. "RYOGA, YOU JERK!"

Ryoga turned to run, but Akane quickly grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him in close. The next few minutes were hard to watch as Akane administered a vicious beating to the lost boy that made anything she had ever done to Kuno look like love taps in comparison. She held back enough to avoid breaking any bones, but Ryoga's skin was nothing but a massive bruise with two black eyes and a split lip by the time she finished. "Ranma, this is all your fault!" Ryoga complained with a pained voice when he was finally able to stand up and stagger away long after everyone else had left.

* * *

As Ranma and Akane walked home together, Ranma tried to apologize for her earlier outburst. "Akane, I didn't mean to imply that you wouldn't make a good girlfriend. It's just...you know how I am with words, and also, well, I'm not ready for that kind of relationship." She looked down as she blushed, not noticing that Akane was blushing too.

"It's okay, Ranma," replied Akane. "I'm just glad you're okay after what that idiot Ryoga tried to pull. It's a shame about your hair, though."

Ranma reached back and felt the loose strands blowing in the wind. "Eh, it's not a big deal. It'll grow back, and there's still enough left for a shorter pigtail. I just need another piece of string." Akane grinned internally as she thought about how she had secretly saved the hacked off locks that had been kept together by the first string, hiding it in her school bag as they returned home.

After a minute of silence, Akane brought up a topic she had been thinking about ever since they left school. "Ranma, do you think I should cut my hair? You see, I used to wear it short, but then I grew it out to try and impress Doctor Tofu, you know since Kasumi has long hair. Now that I'm pretty much over him, maybe it's time I cut it short again." She gathered up her hair in one hand at the base of her neck and slowly spun around to give Ranma a decent idea of her potential new look. "What do you think?"

Ranma stood still and stared while she went through her suggestion. "Akane, while you're right that short hair would also look good on you, why would you want to get rid of such wonderful hair? You look _beautiful_ with those long, silky locks flowing down your back. You shouldn't change a thing."

Akane's heart thudded loudly and tried to escape through her throat at these words. She turned away as her face turned bright red. 'Oh Ranma, thank you!' she thought with glee. She finally managed to bring herself under control and tried to cover up her reaction with some teasing. "You're just saying that because you're stuck with just about the only hairstyle that looks good on both a guy and a girl."

"At least I don't have some curse that grows my hair out until I go bald," Ranma joked.

Akane snickered. "Yeah, right, like there could be such a curse."

"You never know," replied Ranma. "I used to think there was no way someone could be cursed to change gender, but these melons on my chest and the missing anatomy between my legs say otherwise." The two friends laughed together as they continued their journey home before freaking out Kasumi with Akane's torn dress and Ranma's impromptu haircut.

* * *

Meanwhile, the battered and bruised Ryoga is somewhere on Okinawa. "Just you wait, Ranma Saotome," he said to himself as he pulled himself along with a long stick. "I'll find your dojo and fight you to the death!"

* * *

_One week later:_

It was raining late one night as Ryoga finally found his new destination, his new umbrella held high. "Yes, this must be the Tendo Dojo. Tonight, Ranma, you meet your end."

It was 2:06 AM when Ryoga finally found the upstairs guest room where Ranma and his mother were fast asleep, courtesy of the window. "Wake up, Ranma. It's me, Ryoga. Fight me! Hey! Ranma! Would you _wake up_!" Ryoga aimed his fist at Ranma's face in frustration, but his knuckles only met pillow when Ranma rolled onto his side in his sleep. Ryoga tried again with his other fist only for Ranma to roll the other way.

"WAKE UP, D*** IT!" Ryoga shouted to finally succeed in waking up his rival. However, Ranma wasn't the only one Ryoga had disturbed. Despite remaining asleep, Nodoka's honed battle senses allowed her to combat the threat with her reverse-blade sword. There was a glint of metal, and then both Ranma and Ryoga were sent flying across the room and through the still open window. Ryoga managed to recover and land gently with his umbrella still held over his head, but the still groggy and now female Ranma landed with a splash in the koi pond.

"Ryoga! It's the middle of the night! What are you doing?!" Ranma complained as she climbed out of the pond.

"Silence! Does revenge know night or day?!" Ryoga shouted.

"This again?" groaned Ranma. "Would you cut this out?! You've got nothing to get revenge _for_!"

"I'll say one thing before I send you to h***," Ryoga declared as thunder rumbled in the distance. "When you ran out on our duel, I followed you all the way to China!"

Ranma looked at the umbrella Ryoga still held over his head, and it clicked. "Don't tell me you went to the 'Ground of Accursed Springs' and that you transform into something when you get wet!"

At the revelation of this plot twist, Ryoga snapped. "Silence!" he yelled. "The time for words is past." He then went on the attack.

Ranma knew she couldn't beat Ryoga like this, and it would be foolish to try. Therefore, she took advantage of her greater speed in her cursed form, dodging or blocking his blows, looking for an opening to either retreat to the safety of the house or knock the umbrella away and take her chances with Ryoga's cursed form, whatever it might be.

All the racket didn't go unnoticed as both Akane and Kasumi awoke to the sounds of the fighting. Worried that there could be a burglar afoot, the two girls descended the stairs to check things out, Akane armed with her trusty shinai. Catching a glimpse of Ryoga carrying his pack and umbrella, the girls assumed they had been correct in their suspicions. Not wanting Akane to risk herself in a direct attack, Kasumi armed her sister, the human cannon, with one of Akane's own dumbbells. Her aim was true as she nailed the unknown vagrant in the head with a pitch that would make Daisuke Matsuzaka jealous.

This caused Ryoga to drop his umbrella and immediately become soaked in the rain. Luckily, the timing on Jusenkyo transformations isn't immediate, giving Ryoga just enough time to jump the property wall before being discovered.

"Ryoga!" shouted out Ranma at her rival's disappearing form. The identity of the visitor managed to appease Akane and Kasumi into going back to bed, although Akane was still upset over how Ryoga kept attacking Ranma.

Meanwhile, Ranma had for some stupid reason chased after the guy who kept trying to kill her. Not too far away, she found Ryoga's discarded pack and clothes and knew what that meant. Ryoga indeed also had a Jusenkyo curse. Dun, dun, dun!

Suddenly, she heard the growl of a dog behind her. "Ryoga, is that you?" she asked it. "Nod if you can understand me." The dog failed to comply, and Ranma eventually noticed a collar around its neck. 'No, _it_ can't be Ryoga, but where _did_ he go?' she thought.

* * *

Meanwhile, Akane had made it back to her room after the false alarm. 'All that racket at 2 AM.' she thought as she yawned. Suddenly, her battle awareness kicked in. 'Someone's here,' she realized as she took a guarded position. "Who's there?! Come out!" she called to the seemingly empty room.

Suddenly, a black blur lunged at her face. "No!" she called out as she slapped it away. Then she looked down to discover it was nothing more that a little black piglet with some kind of neckerchief tied around its neck. 'Where did you come from, hmm?' she thought.

"Here, piggy," she tried calling to it only for it to cautiously back away, trembling in fear as if Akane scared it more than anyone other than a pork butcher. But there's no way that could be true, could there?

"Come on. Don't be afraid," she tried again, but the small animal just continued to back away with wide eyes until it backed up against a wall. Akane took that opportunity to pick it up, only for the pig to squeal nosily as it desperately tried to escape her grip.

"Calm down, piggy. I won't hurt you," Akane comforted in a soft voice. "Oh, you're drenched. Were you out in the rain all this time? And what's this? A bump on the head? Oh, your poor thing!" The piglet started to relax as it was finally starting to believe that she was genuinely concerned for it.

* * *

Ranma was drying off in the tea room, still wondering about Ryoga's whereabouts and the nature of his curse when Akane entered the room with a piglet in her arms. The piglet took one look at Ranma and started squealing angrily. "What are you mad about?" Akane wondered out loud.

"What's with the pig?" Ranma asked.

Akane didn't answer but instead tried to calm the thing down. "Hush now. I'll put some medicine on that bump." It suddenly became very content as Akane held it against her chest. Even so much as to...

"What? That thing's blushing!" Ranma noticed.

"Don't be silly," said Akane as she grabbed the first aid kit.

"Dirty-minded pig!" Ranma _grumbled._ She took it from Akane and held it up for a good view between its legs. "I knew it! A male!" she exclaimed. "So it is," agreed Akane as she took a look for herself. The pig took exception to this treatment and started beating Ranma over the head with _his _front hooves until Akane took him back.

"Oh, isn't he just adorable, Ranma?!" Akane squealed as she applied the medicine. "He makes just the cutest 'kwee' sounds."

"Are you sure it's not 'bwee?'" Ranma asked.

As the piglet squealed some more, Akane concluded, "Nope, it's definitely a 'kwee.'"

Ranma got up and started to walk away. "Whatever. I'm going to take a hot bath. I'm freezing after running around in the rain after Ryoga."

Suddenly, the piglet sneezed. "Warm the piglet up, too," said Akane, holding it out to Ranma.

"Take a bath with a _pig_?!" Ranma complained. But Akane showed her a pair of chocolate puppy-dog eyes, and Ranma knew she couldn't say no.

* * *

"I still wonder where that idiot Ryoga ran off to," Ranma said to herself as she removed her clothes in the changing room while holding down the rebellious piglet with one foot.

Once inside the inner bath and with much difficulty, Ranma finally managed to wrestle the thing into the bathtub only to discover a naked Ryoga in its place. "Ryoga! You...you're a _pig_!" Ranma exclaimed in shock.

"Ranma, you are dead!" proclaimed Ryoga as his fist shot forward, only for Ranma to block it by sacrificing the life of a ladle.

"Whoa, wait! Time out!" Ranma protested. "So I was right. You _did_ go to Jusenkyo!"

Ryoga sighed and began the flashback sequence that would tell his tragic backstory. "Chasing you, I wandered throughout the vastness of China. For days I wandered, until that fateful day. A crying little red-haired girl knocked me from the cliff – to the spring! Then, I changed!"

"What followed was one horror after another!" Ryoga then proceeded to describe how he was fished out of the spring by a panda and taken to the Jusenkyo Guide's hut where the two of them attempted to cook him, only to painfully change back in the boiling water. The guide had then explained the curse to him and had him sign the guestbook.

"The hideous body that curses me, the devouring that nearly befell me, they're your fault, Ranma, because you ran from our duel!" Ryoga finished.

"Hold it, you!" Ranma shouted. "It's not my fault you felt you had to drag your sorry a** all the way to China just because you forfeited our duel by showing up extremely late. Besides, you were knocked into the spring by some weird girl, right?"

"Yes, so?" asked Ryoga.

"So why should you be mad at _me_?" Ranma argued. "You should be mad at that..." Suddenly, Ranma's voice went slack as the realization hit her. "...panda and that crying red-haired girl." Ranma bowed her head in shame. "I'm _sooooo_ sorry, Ryoga! It _is_ my fault you're cursed. _I _was the girl who knocked you in. I promise I won't tell a soul about your curse, Code of the Warrior and all. Is there anything else I can do to make it up to you?" Ranma pleaded.

Ryoga was thrown off balance, not having expected this kind of submission from his hated rival. "I'll think about it," he replied. "I think I'll stick around for a while. After all, that Akane girl appears to be quite fond of my cursed form. Who knew that monster of a girl actually had a sweet and caring side? She must've defended you only because she doesn't know what you're _really_ like. I can even show up as a human from time to time to show her what a _real_ man is like. It would be great to have such a strong yet sweet woman by my side."

Ranma was seething mad at what Ryoga had planned. "Why you miserable, honorless little...don't you dare take advantage of your curse to trick Akane!"

"You don't like it, tough!" replied Ryoga. "Maybe you should just die!" Ryoga jumped out of the tub and rushed at Ranma while she tried to escape, catching her by grabbing her by the pigtail on the other side of the room. Luckily, Ranma had managed to spray both of them with cold water from a small shower nozzle to turn Ryoga back into a pig. This, however, did not prevent Ryoga from sinking his teeth into Ranma's shoulder...

* * *

Akane was waiting in the tea room for Ranma to return from the bath with her new animal friend when she heard a bunch of strange noises nearby. "Hmm? What's this racket about?" she wondered. Her question was answered when Ranma, still in female form, ran down the hall chasing the piglet, shouting at it and even hitting it in the head with a thrown washpan.

The piglet ran to the safety of Akane's side as Ranma strangely called it a coward for hiding behind a girl. "Ranma, stop! What do you think you're doing?" Akane complained. The piglet then jumped back at Ranma, who slammed it to the ground, only to find Akane painfully squeezing one of her exposed breasts. "Stop it!" Akane shouted. She knelt down to comfort the piglet, completely ignoring the fact that it had been the one to attack first. "Are you okay?" she asked the crying animal with tears that Ranma knew would be at home on a crocodile. "Poor thing. Let's go."

"Hey! Where are you taking that pig?" Ranma asked worriedly

"To bed with me," Akane answered.

"Wait a second! That pig is-," Ranma tried to warn before remembering her promise. Ranma then gasped as Akane kissed the disguised Ryoga on his snout.

"What?" Akane asked at Ranma's look of total disgust.

"Idiot! See if I care!" Ranma snapped before walking away.

* * *

Back in her room, Akane was still having trouble understanding Ranma's hatred towards her new pet. "Honestly! What's with Ranma, anyway?! Is he actually jealous of a little pig?" she wondered as she drifted off to sleep with the piglet cradled in her arms.

A little while later, Ranma, finally back in male form, was creeping down the roof to Akane's window with a kettle of hot water. 'Promise or not, there's no way I'm letting that little pervert dishonor Akane by tricking her into letting him sleep in the same bed with her,' he thought.

After stealthily sneaking inside, he found Ryoga was still awake. Smirking, Ranma told him, "If you don't want to be exposed right here, don't make a sound." Ryoga had no choice but to let Ranma pick him up but then bit his hand viciously. It took all of Ranma's willpower not to cry out in pain as he tossed Ryoga across the room. Unfortunately, Ryoga rebounded off the far wall and started bouncing around the room like some kind of demented pinball. Ranma lost his balance trying to catch him and barely managed to prevent himself from falling on top of Akane...that is until Ryoga slammed into his head from behind, forcing him the rest of the way down.

Of course, it would be enough to wake up Akane to catch him in this extremely compromising position. "Uh, no, it's not, it's nothing like," he stammered.

Akane slapped his face and quickly grabbed her shinai. "Wait! Listen!" Ranma pleaded.

Akane was about to start beating him over the head when reason reached her mind. 'This is Ranma,' she reminded herself. 'He's proven that he's not like the other boys. He wouldn't, he couldn't do something like this!' Slowly, she lowered her weapon and softly said, "I'm listening."

Ranma sighed in relief, but now he had to explain it to her. He had to make a decision, and he found it to be easier than he thought it would be. 'To h*** with that stupid promise! Akane is more important!' Having made up his mind, he pulled Akane out into the hall and closed the door most of the way.

"Ranma, what's this about?" asked Akane, still holding her shinai.

Ranma took a deep breath. "I recently made a promise to keep a secret for someone, but I can no longer in good conscience hold myself to that promise." He pointed into Akane's room. "Do you see that kettle I brought in? Do you see that bandana around the pig's neck? Doesn't it look familiar? Ryoga also has a Jusenkyo curse, and he's using it to take advantage of you."

Akane's face went deathly pale as she realized the implications of what Ranma said, then her face started to turn green and she began to feel queasy as she remembered everything she had inadvertently done with that pervert. Finally, her temper started to take over until she barely managed to calm herself down with several deep breaths. "You know what, Ranma?" she asked in an icy voice. "Ryoga would get off too easy if I just storm in and bust him now. I've got a better idea to handle that perverted pig. Just leave everything to me."

Ranma shivered as Akane walked past him to reenter her room. Ranma watched as she told Ryoga, "I'm sorry about this, little piggy, but Ranma's right. I really shouldn't be sleeping with an animal that I just found. Just sleep on the floor for tonight, and maybe tomorrow you can join mommy in her bed." Ranma felt like he was getting diabetes just watching that disgustingly sweet display, but Ryoga bought the performance and curled up on the floor to sleep.

* * *

In the morning, Akane showed everyone her new pet and successfully appealed to her father to let her keep him. 'Man, those puppy-dog eyes should be registered weapons,' Ranma thought.

"I'm going to call you P-chan!" she announced. To the surprised faces around her, she explained, "'P' as in 'pig,' and 'chan' for 'little.'"

* * *

After school, Ryoga was waiting at the door for Akane when she and Ranma came home. "Hello there, P-chan. Mommy's home," Akane announced as she picked him up, careful to keep him away from her chest now. "I'm going to take you on a special trip now, yes I am," she cooed. "Ranma, why don't you come with me?" she asked as she winked at him after turning "P-chan" around to make sure he wouldn't see.

"Do I have to, Akane," he whined, playing along.

"Yes, you do, Ranma. You've been very rude to poor P-chan here, and now you're going to make it up to me," she ordered.

"Oh, all right," Ranma said grumpily as he "gave in."

* * *

As they approached their destination, Akane distracted "P-chan" with baby talk to keep him from noticing where they were. Ranma had to hold back his laughter at bringing Ryoga _here_ of all places.

As they approached the front desk, Akane explained to the secretary that she had just adopted a pet pig, and he needed to have his shots. Ryoga started squirming when he heard this, now realizing that Akane had taken him to a vet. "Don't worry, baby," Akane cooed. "It won't hurt too badly. You need to have your shots if I'm going to keep you. Be a good boy, and you can sleep in my bed tonight now that it'll be safe to let you do so." Ryoga realized that this _was_ the proper way to adopt a normal pet and figured he could endure a little pain to be near Akane, so he stopped struggling. Ranma couldn't help laughing out loud at the humiliation Ryoga was willing to endure to keep up the charade. Ryoga shot him a nasty glare in response.

Eventually, the vet arrived and took "P-chan" into the back room. Now, Ranma and Akane both burst out laughing to the great confusion of the secretary.

As they saw the vet bringing "P-chan" back out, Akane winked at Ranma as she pulled out a thermos from her purse. "Here, Ranma," she said loud enough for Ryoga to hear. "This hot water will come in handy if you accidentally get splashed on our way home. You know that old ladle lady always manages to get you somehow."

When the vet approached them, Akane said, "Thank you, doctor, but could you take care of one more thing? We really should control the pet population. I think it would be for the best if P-chan here was neutered."

Ryoga's face was priceless as he made a huge racket, finally managing to squirm free of the vet's grip. Meanwhile, Ranma unscrewed the cap of the thermos and held it out saying, "This is your last chance." Ryoga knew he had no choice but to take it and ran over to Ranma, allowing him to pour the water over him.

The secretary screamed and fainted, while the vet dropped his jaw in disbelief at the sight of the black piglet transforming into a naked teenage boy. Ryoga covered himself as best he could with his hands and turned to face Akane, hoping he could talk his way out of trouble with her.

Ryoga was surprised to discover not a look of shock, surprise, anger, or even disgust on Akane's face but a wide grin. "You knew, and you set me up?" he croaked.

"Yep, Ranma told me last night," Akane confirmed.

"Ranma, you promised not to tell! Do you have no honor?!" Ryoga growled.

"That's funny, coming from you," replied Ranma. "You trick her into letting you molest her and take you into her bed, and you complain about my honor?! What about Akane's honor? I was under no obligation to keep that promise after you abused my trust!"

"Oh, Ryooooga," Akane interrupted. She pulled his hand away from his crotch and drove her knee into it instead. Ryoga's voice cracked as he screamed and fell to his knees. "That was for taking advantage of me, you scumbag!" she shouted. "We left your pack and clothes in the dojo. Go get them, then leave both of us alone."

As Ranma and Akane walked towards the door, Akane turned back one last time. "Just so you know, Ryoga, my true revenge is yet to come. You won't know where or when, but you'll wish you never crossed my path when I'm through with you. No pervert messes with Akane Tendo and gets away with it!"

"Remind me never to make you really mad at me," commented Ranma.

"Ranma, this is all your fault!" Ryoga declared when he was finally able to stand up a few minutes after Ranma and Akane had left. He staggered over to a water fountain and let the water hit him in the face to transform. He ran out the door and proceeded to get lost. He would be forced to spend his next three days as a pig before he finally found his way back to the dojo.

The vet walked over to the phone and called his wife. "Hi, honey. I think I'm going to close up early today. Also, I'm switching to decaf."

* * *

As Ranma and Akane walked home, Ranma was surprised when Akane stopped by an ice cream stand. "Don't forget, you still have to make it up to me for how poorly you treated P-chan," she reminded him.

"Huh?" asked a thoroughly confused Ranma.

Akane gave him a big smile. "Therefore, I'm treating you to an ice cream cone. What kind do you want?"

They each made their selection, and Akane paid the vendor. As they walked home while licking their treats, Akane said, "Thanks for being there for me, Ranma. You're a true friend."

"Always, Akane, always," was Ranma's reply.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I was pretty rough on Ryoga here, but I can't stand some of the things he does. Later on, he'll have his chances to redeem himself somewhat, but it's safe to say that he's blown any chance he had at winning Akane's trust or affections. As for Akane's "true revenge," that won't happen for quite a while, but when it does, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

This chapter shows how living with Nodoka has helped stem a couple of Ranma's more stubborn traits. He's now more willing to accept help in a fight, and he's learned to be more flexible in matters of honor. Of course, Nodoka probably wouldn't have been much help with that latter issue, so let's say it's a combination of some influential school teachers and his already strong feelings for Akane.

Everyone always uses "bwee" for P-chan's squeals, but I've looked through several of P-chan's early appearances in the manga and found that the most common sounds he makes are "kwee" and "ernk," while "bwee" is never used.

Akane's hair: In alternate universe Ranma fics where Akane starts off with long hair, everyone always finds an excuse to give Akane a haircut at some point. Sorry, but I don't care how much short hair "suits" Akane, I personally think most girls (including Akane) look more attractive with long hair, so Akane will be keeping her hair long throughout the entire story. The in-universe excuse is that the canon Akane had no choice in the matter, but Ranma actually prefers it long. Technically, this is breaking canon a little, as Ranma did state in the manga that he likes Akane's hair better short, but I don't care. My alternate universe, my rules.

As I mentioned previously, Ranma's interrupted training has allowed Ryoga to surpass him at this point. Eventually, things will even out close to the power rankings seen in canon with the exception of Akane.

It will probably be at least a few months until the next update, as I will be working on updating my other stories.


End file.
